Broken Fairytales
by Phantaz-magoria
Summary: What happens when a hopeless drug addict finds a lost little girl from the other side of the rainbow? How do they cope? AU. Warning: drug abuse, language, violence, and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

Broken Fairytales part 1  
by Phantaz-Magoria

Warning!: Drug use, violence, adult themes, and language

Credit belongs to: Robyn Maddison! Her story Of Red Velvet and Motorcycles sparked this story and she was kind enough to allow me to springboard off of it. Mine is a little different (a lot different) from hers, but the idea belongs to her =)

Also, any mentions of a drug called Erebus were shamelessly stolen from a Star Wars fanfiction called Cast My Soul To The Sea by Sharon Nuttcombe and the follow up fic This Way Became My Journey by Emily Glick. I wouldn't know how to find them to ask permission to use it (I read that series back in 2001, 2002, something...) But if they read this one, I hope they know I think they did a wonderful job and I only steal because I can't do better.

Anyhow! On with the show...!

* * *

_Present day somewhere in the real world..._

He needed a fix. He needed a fix. He desperately needed a fix. It was bad this time. Hands shaking, breath catching, hot and cold sweats all over. He ran a shaking hand through his wild hair. He really needed a fix.

"Hey! Glitch!"

He jerked around, startled out of his thoughts by the twelve year old kid running up to him. "Hello, do I know...? Oh! Shoe! Hi, there."

Shoe didn't have much, just a treasured pair of sneakers and a basketball signed by Shaquil O'Neil. He took the basketball everywhere. But he had always been a good kid. He and Glitch had been fast friends in spite of their age difference eve since Shoe had been placed in the foster home. Things had changed, though. Now it was rare that they saw each other. Every time, Shoe hoped that something had changed, something would be different. He was getting used to disappointment.

"Glitch! You wanna shoot some hoops?"

Glitch could only manage a sickly smile and a quick shake of the head. "Maybe next time, Shoe." He leaned back against the brick wall of the alley, arms wrapped protectively around his abdomen. He felt like he was going to be sick!

"Hey, man, you doing alright? You look pretty bad."

"I feel pretty bad. Have you seen Zero? I need to talk to him."

"Need to buy more drugs, you mean." The kid's disapproving look made Glitch's stomach turn.

"You don't understand, Shoe..."

"Hey, man, I understand perfectly. I understand that you used to be a cool guy. Now you're just a junky."

If this hadn't been a particularly bad day, Glitch might have felt bad, a hint of remorse for the life that he'd lost. Now everything was swimming in and out of reality along with the gnawing, biting pain that threatened to eat him alive.

"I need to find Zero, have you seen him?"

"Zero ain't here, man. He hasn't been around since Officer Cain tried to put him away for selling his shit at the school."

"Don t swear."

"Sorry. Selling his crap."

Glitch ran his shaking hands through his hair. "I need to find him. I need to find him. I need to-" He looked down startled at the hand on his sleeve. "Hello, do I...? Shoe!" Glitch smiled sheepishly at the sad, disappointed look on the kid's face. "I was glitching again, wasn't I?"

"I wish you'd get some help, man. They got programs and things. They talk about 'em at school all the time. Why don't you let somebody help you?"

Glitch gave him an empty smile, misery and despair shining in his dark eyes. "I wish I could, but they can't help people like me."

Nobody could help. Nothing could help. Nothing except that next fix. He needed to find Zero.

* * *

_Three years ago..._

Ambrose had his hands full as he climbed the stairs, dodging the other high school kids and cradling the large heavy box in his arms. One more flight of stairs to go. He stopped to catch his breath, resting one corner of the box on the stair rail. He wasn t expecting the sudden impact and lost his grip, watching in horror as the large box tumbled off the rail and down, down, down...

He flinched when it landed with a crashing sound of shattering glass and metal. Cold disappointment and hot anger warred for dominance in his chest giving him an overall numb feeling.

"Aw hell, kid, I'm sorry!"

Almost as if in a daze, he looked up at the person who had knocked into him. It was an adult in a black police officer's uniform with a bright silver badge on his breast pocket. His nametape said 'Cain' and his arctic blue eyes were sincere with concern and apology. The man looked over the railing at the crushed box and the growing puddle of liquid seeping out from under it.

"You okay?"

Ambrose shook his head very slowly.

The man tried again. "I'm the new D.A.R.E officer assigned to the school. I just started today. Was trying to find my way to the assembly hall and I'm afraid I got turned around a bit."

Ambrose couldn't speak. He couldn't move. The shock of what just happened had almost completely frozen him to the floor.

One look at the boy's crestfallen face had Officer Cain guiltily running a hand through his white-blonde hair. "Hey, why don't you let me help you with that. Come on." He patted the kid lightly on the shoulder, snapping him out of his paralyzed daze. "Come on."

Ambrose followed the officer down to the ground floor where a gaggle of students had already gathered around, laughing and snickering behind their hands. Officer Cain looked at his watch. "Don't you all have classes to get to?" Whether it was the authoritative boom of his voice or the no nonsense arch of the eyebrow that convinced the crowd they had business elsewhere, soon the floor was deserted and Ambrose was on his knees sorting through the ruined box, picking out pieces of glass.

Officer Cain crouched next to him. "So, what was all this stuff, anyhow?"

Ambrose shrugged. "It was a chemistry experiment for the science fair tomorrow."

"Really? Doesn't look like your average state of the art volcano setup."

"I was replacing protein enzymes. Uh, chemically extracting the nutrients in vegetables and reproducing them in the form of a liquid. You know, your average state of the art quest to end world hunger setup. Volcanoes were second grade."

"Wow. I stand corrected."

Ambrose shrugged.

Cain tried again. "So, you think you can fix this up in time for tomorrow?"

Ambrose shrugged again. "Yeah, sure. IF I was Santa Claus and IF this was Christmas Eve and IF I could stop time long enough to jump down every chimney in the world. Sure."

"Sarcastic much, are we?"

Ambrose pulled a sodden and ruined display board out and looked at it forlornly. "When the situation demands it."

"Look, kid, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am. Let me make it up to you."

He looked up from the broken beaker he was examining, dull eyes partially hidden by his long black bangs and emanating that world weary brand of cynicism that only a fifteen year old that was too smart for his age could muster. "Yeah? How?"

"Well, let me buy you a milk shake."

Ambrose scoffed. "Whatever."

Cain smiled. "What's wrong with milk shakes?"

"Nothing, I just thought that ice cream parlors and soda shops went out of style with poodle skirts and sock hops. Guess I was wrong."

"Okay, no milk shake. Dinner then. My wife is making spaghetti tonight and let me tell you... meatballs like you wouldn't believe! She's a science teacher herself up at the college. I'm sure she would love to hear about your project. Think your parents would mind?"

"Parents wouldn't notice. They're dead."

Cain grimaced. He was certainly batting a thousand with this kid. He waited patiently while Ambrose seemed to weigh the offer in his mind and calculate pros and cons.

"I don't think Mrs. Jensen would mind having one less mouth to feed tonight. I accept your offer, Officer Cain."

Cain grinned. "Call me Wyatt." He held out a hand for the kid to shake.

"I'm Ambrose Wilson." His dark eyes flashed at the momentary expression on the older man's face.

Cain wisely chose to keep any comments on the old fashioned name to himself. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ambrose."

"Wish it were under different circumstances." After all that scavenging, he had grimly determined that not a damn thing was salvageable. He sighed as he began carrying the mess over to the nearest trash can. "If you really want to make it up to me, you can buy me a new chemistry set. I had to mow twenty lawns to pay for this one and it's well past mowing season now. Raking leaves doesn't garner nearly as much capital, so I won't be able to pay for a new one until spring."

Cain almost laughed, but he kept it in. The boy was so serious in his business transactions. It was charming. "Alright. I'll pick you up after school and we can go by the mall to pick it up before dinner. How's that sound?" The mess was as cleaned up as it was going to get. He'd have to find a janitor to do the mopping.

"That sounds fair. I have to get to class now. Good day, Officer Cain."

Cain could have been seeing things, but was that a ghost of a smile on the serious young man's face? Possibly. He watched him go, taking the stairs two at a time. One thing was for certain. He was an interesting kid to run into...

* * *

_Present day..._

"I hear you've been looking for me."

Glitch nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned behind him to look. There was a man in a long trench coat, reddish-blonde hair, cold cold eyes, cold as death, acne marked face... he looked familiar. It clicked.

"Zero!"

"What can I do for you?"

Glitch looked around. There were people everywhere, dancing, swaying. Music was deafening and smoke clogged the air, lights flashed all the brilliant colors of the rainbow. Realization dawned on him and his hands began to shake harder. He was at the club. The Stardust. How did he get here? Hadn't he been in an alley just seconds before? Sweat rolled down the side of his face and he struggled to keep from dropping into a hyperventilating panic attack.

"I haven't got all day, headcase. What do you want?"

"Want? Want? What do I want?"

"Yes. What do you want?"

"Need.... Need to need to... to get more."

"More. You need some more Erebus?"

"Yes, that... please? I have money..." Glitch fished in his pockets and held out a bundle of carefully folded bills. "Please..."

Zero grabbed the money and Glitch flinched, his entire body stiffening with fright. Zero counted the bills quickly, then stuffed them into his own pocket. He pulled out a package and handed it over, eyes darting to the left and right.

Glitch opened it and looked inside. "Wait... this isn't... this isn't enough... not enough. I paid you..."

"Shut the hell up! I know how much you paid me, but the price went up."

"But... I can't make any more money, I need this stuff."

"Listen, you little shit bag. This 'stuff' is kind of a hot commodity and there are hundreds of people who don't mind paying full price for it, so if you don't want my product..."

"No! No, no, no, no! I need it... I need it..."

"Good. I'm glad we see eye to eye. Now, seeing as you were kind enough to design the drug in the first place..." Zero laughed, a nasty, ugly sound. "And that we have such a long history together, I've only jacked the price twenty five percent for you. Be grateful you aren't paying fifty, like every one else."

"I'm grateful... I'm grateful... I am... thank you, Zero."

"That's right. You better be happy I don't have you licking my boot, you pathetic waste of space." Zero turned to look at his posse of goons. "Somebody get this shit for brains out of my club."

Glitch cried out in pain as rough hands grabbed him by the arms. His skin felt like it was on fire and the added pressure was agony to his already pain-wracked body. He was dragged to a side door and thrown to the ground. He tumbled and bounced over the curb and into the puddle of rain water that had flooded over the gutter.

Glitch clutched the package in aching hands like a life preserver. He fished in his pocket and pulled out a syringe. His hands shook while he pulled a vial out of the package, uncapped the syringe, filled it with the clear liquid. His whole body was shaking, the pain was unbearable! He had to be careful how much he filled it with. Just enough... just enough... just enough to make the pain go away, no more. It had to last. He carefully tapped the air bubbles out, stabbed the needle through his jeans and into his thigh.

It wasn't as good as taking the time to find a vein, but in his condition, the alternative would have been hopeless. He wouldn't have been able to hold steady long enough to inject a vein, even if he could find a convenient one that hadn't collapsed already. You didn't get as much of a rush when you injected into the muscle, but it made the pain go away and that was all that mattered.

He carefully placed the package into the pocket of his coat and rolled over, onto his back, face turned towards the sky. Raindrops hit his face like a soothing balm to wash away the fire. He didn't care that his clothes were soaked through or that he lay in a muddy puddle in an alleyway outside of a nightclub. His tortured and abused mind and body cared about one thing only...

_Relief..._

* * *

_Three years ago..._

Officer Cain leaned against his patrol car. He sat in the parking lot watching the front door of the school. The last of the wave of high school kids had long since made for the hills, but no Ambrose. He looked at his watch and sighed. Finally, the doors opened and there was the silent kid with the funny name, the floppy bangs and the world weary eyes.

Cain smiled. "Didn't think you were going to show."

Ambrose readjusted his backpack on his shoulder. The thing looked like it weighed more than he did. "Yeah, well, I didn't think you were going to hang around. Guess we're even."

"So, you were... what? Testing me?" Cain took Ambrose's bag and set it in the trunk next to the bullet proof vest and riot gear.

"Giving you an opportunity to rethink a previous ill-informed and rash spur of the moment offer that was brought about by a sense of guilt and misplaced pity and/or sympathy."

"Is that the text book terminology for me offering you dinner?"

"Dinner's fine. Chemistry set is expensive."

"How steep we talking?"

"About five hundred dollars, less a penny for manipulative consumerism advertising and given about eight percent government payroll tax that is supposedly ear-marked for important things like schools and education but is in actuality only ever going to be used the next time they vote to give themselves a pay raise. Roughly five thirty nine eighty. Give or take."

Cain nodded, sagely taking it all in. "That's a pretty nice chem set."

"Yeah. One of the better ones. But if you're going to spend the money, you may as well pay for the better quality. Cheap is shit."

"Damn straight, kid. Just watch the swearing."

Ambrose grinned.

* * *

_Present day...  
_

Time had no meaning for Glitch. He drifted in and out of painful consciousness and blissful darkness. It wasn't until an uncomfortably bright flash of light seared his eyes that he began to wonder why he was laying in a puddle of water. He lifted his aching head and groaned. Every muscle in his body was stiff and sore and his mouth was dry. His throat burned with thirst. He sat up, struggled to his feet. His clothes were soaked through and covered in mud, but physically he seemed fine.

A sudden thought struck him and his eyes flew wide in panic. His fingers frantically dug in his pocket and he sighed in relief when they played over the package. He flinched at the sudden stabbing pain at his finger and he pulled his hand out. He'd accidentally jabbed himself on the syringe he had carelessly stuffed into his pocket. Blood welled up on the tip of his finger and his first instinct was to wipe it clean with his shirt. That was not going to happen. He was absolutely covered in muddy, dirty water. Absently, he began to suck on his wounded finger while he began to try and figure out where exactly he ended up.

Glitch looked around. He was in an alley way somewhere. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember it for the life of him. A high pitched scream assailed his ears and he flinched, tensing, every ounce of instinct in him telling him to run away, but something drew him forward. Men were shouting and the scream continued. Glitch jogged forward until he could peer around the corner.

Three of Zero's goons were tormenting a little eight year old girl in a bright red dress. One of them was gripping her cruelly by the wrist and she was screaming, clearly terrified. Far more terrified than Glitch was and he was quite literally shaking in his boots.

Swallowing the icy lump of fear in his throat, he stepped forward, voice bolder than he felt. "Let her go."

The three men in the long coats looked up and laughed. The ring leader chuckled and his grip loosened just enough for the girl to slip away and run behind her rescuer. "Well, if it isn't Zero's pretty headcase. Come to pay your respects, dog?"

The other two began circling.

Glitch backed up. The little girl thankfully seemed to have enough sense to back up with him. "Don't you guys have better things to do than to frighten little kids? Or is that all you re good at?"

"Tough words. I look forward to ramming them down your throat. As soon as Zero loses interest in you, I'll be ramming lots of things down your throat, so you better start getting used to it. Wouldn't want you to choke."

Something clicked into place in Glitch's head. Sam. The man's name was Sam. He never graduated from High School. He d been suspended for beating a boy half to death in the bathroom. Rumors had circulated about other things, too. Especially after the boy had committed suicide a week later.

"Funny. I always heard you were too small to choke on."

The two goons on the side both laughed. The one in the center sneered. "Laugh it up while you can, pretty boy. Just you wait."

Glitch continued to back down the alleyway, eyes tracking movements from all three of them. They didn't seem to be threatening harm just now, but he didn't turn his back until they had reached the main street. He held out his hand and the little girl took it, holding onto him tightly. With one last glance at the three shadows at the end of the alley, Glitch turned and began walking as fast as the little girl could keep up with.

They had gone five or six blocks with Glitch flinching and twitching and turning to look behind them every ten seconds or so. Finally he let himself relax a bit. He looked down at the pale little girl he had rescued. Her long black hair was starting to tangle, but it looked as if it had been neatly brushed that morning and tied with white ribbon. Her blue eyes were impossibly wide as she took in every detail of their surroundings.

"That was scary, huh?"

The girl flinched and looked up at him. Apparently she was just as jumpy as he was. That was pretty sad.

"I'll tell you a secret. I was scared too."

The little girl didn't say anything. She only nodded.

"Do you have a name? Mine's Glitch."

The girl nodded.

"You gonna tell me what it is?"

She shook her head. Glitch bit his lip, face twisting as he struggled to think. Thinking made his head hurt worse.

"How am I going to help you find your parents if you don't tell me your name?"

The little girl sighed and looked away.

"You do have parents, right?"

The girl thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Don't you think they'll be missing you?"

The girl shook her head.

"Why not?"

The girl looked at him with her big blue eyes and Glitch got the message. Yes or no questions only, just now, please, thank you.

"Alright. Okay. Umm. Hmm. Well, I can't exactly take you home with me, doll..."

She clutched at his hand painfully hard and Glitch winced.

"Okay, umm. Do you know of anywhere else I could take you? A grandma? An aunt?"

A sad shake of the head and a pleading look.

"You don't live in an orphanage, do you?"

Her head tilted to the side, confused.

"Never mind. Those are nasty places, anyhow. They feed you regular, and give you a bed, but it's no place to write home about. Do you know where your home is?"

Another head shake.

"Doll, I gotta tell you, my home isn't any place to bring a pretty little girl like you. It's not even a home! It's a warehouse! You'd hate it!"

The girl stopped walking. Glitch stopped, too. He looked everywhere but at her, trying, struggling, to get his brain to make a connection, praying for one synapse to fire out an idea. What do normal people do with lost little girls when they find them? Eventually, he looked down at her again.

She was sad. And miserable. And hopeful. And scared. And very, very alone. Yes, Glitch knew a thing or two about what people looked like when they had nobody in the world to hold onto. She had found a hand to hold and she didn't want to give it up for anything. He knew something about that too...

One last try, just for the sake of trying. "There are rats. Great big ones."

The girl shrugged.

"Alright. I give in. You can come stay at my place, but don't say I didn't warn you. And if a rat comes to nibble your toes off in the middle of the night, don't come crying to me."

The girl smiled and Glitch's heart melted. They began walking again.

Now if only he could remember how to get there...

* * *

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

Broken Fairytales part 2  
By Phantaz-Magoria

* * *

_Present day..._

Fortunately for Glitch, he and the little girl had only walked a few blocks before he remembered the map that he kept in his coat pocket for just such a memory emergency. They made their way through the city, past the park where Glitch had apologetically explained that he didn't have any money for a hotdog, but he'd find her something to eat when they got home, and into the industrial district. By the time they had gotten to the waterfront, Glitch was carrying the little girl piggy back style and chatting freely about every stray thought that popped into his head. She didn't seem to mind.

Glitch wasn't exaggerating when he said he lived in a warehouse. The one that they stopped at looked abandoned and not at all welcoming in the twilight. Glitch gave the girl a great big smile when he set her down. "This is it! Home, sweet home." His smile faded when he saw the dubious expression on her face. "Are you sure you don't want to stay somewhere else tonight? It's not too late, I can probably find a nice enough place for you…"

He wasn't actually sure that he could, but he didn't like seeing her so despondent. He sighed in relief when she shook her head and held his hand tighter. With that settled, he put his shoulder to the door and shoved, unsuccessfully. "Sometimes it sticks a bit." He shoved again, and again and finally the door gave way and he was able to lead her inside.

The air was cold and musty and smelled like engine oil and rusting metal. Glitch hit the light switch and the old fluorescent lights overhead flickered slowly to life. Some of them didn't come on at all, and some of them flash, flicker, flashed in their struggle to remain lit, but it was enough to see by. The main area of the warehouse was filled with old cars in various states of repair. There were industrial tools of every description and a huge workbench near one of the bay doors. Every tool was hung up on the wall with an outline in black marker displaying where it belonged. Every box and bin was clearly marked with what was inside. Every car had a binder sitting conspicuously on the hood. Nothing was out of place. The owner of this shop was clearly an obsessive compulsive organizer.

The little girl let go of Glitch's hand and walked to a car and picked up a binder. She turned and held it out to Glitch, questioning.

"That's a project journal. I, uh... I don't remember things, so I have to write them down. Otherwise I'd have to start all over from the beginning every time I forgot and then I wouldn't ever get any work done."

The girl looked around at all the cars in the warehouse. "I restore them. Rebuild them. It's the only way I can make money. Only way I'm comfortable with, anyhow. Why? Well… People just don't hire people like me to do normal jobs..."

She placed the binder back where it was and tilted her head.

"I've got a problem… kind of a brain malfunction, I guess you could say." He saw her expression change. "No, it's not serious. Well, serious enough…" Glitch sighed. "It's just complicated."

He began walking towards the back where it looked like some offices originally had been. There was a large suite on the ground floor and some rickety stairs leading up to a landing. Glitch led the way up the stairs. "Mind the steps, they're not the best, so be careful. And don't trust the guardrail, it's a little loose."

He opened the door at the top of the stairs. It may have been an office at one time, but now there was a ratty sofa with tears in it everywhere and stuffing spilling out, a large bookcase filled completely with books stuffed haphazardly anywhere they would fit. There was a lamp with a makeshift cloth shade. There was a coffee table that was missing a leg and was propped up with more books. There was a bright green plant growing out of the top of a broken television that had had the guts removed. A watering can sat close beside it.

Glitch watered the plant real quick and replaced the can exactly where it had been, carefully lining it up to the black marker outline. The little girl frowned and looked around. Even things in here, the movable ones anyway, had marker outlines where they sat. Even the coffee table with the pile of books for a leg had an outline on the floor.

"The bedroom is in here." He opened an old wooden door with opaque glass and black words declaring that it had once belonged to Mr. Pennyworth, Sr Manager. Inside was a wooden dresser with missing handles and a bed that was piled high with blankets.

"You can sleep in here. I'll sleep on the couch. Don't let appearances fool you, the couch is actually quite comfy. I think I might be getting the better end of the deal."

The girl looked around the room, running her fingers over the old scarred wood of the dresser before hopping daintily onto the bed, bouncing once or twice to try it out. She shook her head, disagreeing with him.

"You don't think so? Guess I can't pull a fast one on you, can I?"

The girl smiled and shook her head again.

"I've got a perfect shirt you can sleep in for tonight. It's soft and so so so nice! It's my favorite t-shirt of all time. I had to wash it , like, five hundred times to get it this soft."

He pried the top drawer of the dresser open and pulled out a white shirt. He tossed it to her and she caught it. He was right, it WAS soft! She held it to her face and rubbed it against her cheek. It felt nice and smelled clean.

"Let me show you where the bathroom is. It's downstairs, so you might want to go before you go to bed. I would hate trying to get down those stairs in the dark. Come on." He held out his hand and she took it, still clutching the too large t-shirt like a security blanket. He led her down stairs and into the office suite.

"Here's the bathroom, I know the sign says it's for boys but the toilet in the other one doesn't work, but I've got plenty of toilet paper in here so you don't have to worry about that. And here's the kitchen. It's not much, but it works. I don't really know what I have to eat in here. I haven't looked in a while. Are you hungry?"

Glitch hoped she wasn't. She nodded emphatically and Glitch sighed. "Well, let's have a look see, okay?"

He opened the fridge and immediately regretted it. Something in there was obviously not good anymore. He pulled out a half used brick of cheese that used to be cheddar but was now a fuzzy green color. "Gross… Hey, could you grab that trash can and bring it here for me?"

The girl nodded and trotted over, then dragged the can back. Glitch dropped the cheese inside. He opened the top off the milk carton and sniffed, his face twisting in a grimace. The girl gave him a look that suggested she thought he was silly for even trying. "Hey, now, you never know." The milk went away, some brown, slimy vegetables, a few Tupperware containers that he wasn't even going to attempt to open. An old pizza box.

Glitch found a jar of sliced pickles that he thought were still good, but did pickles ever go bad? The cupboards weren't much better. A tin of peanuts and an unopened package of Cheeto's who's shelf life expired the year prior were all he could find.

"I'll… uh… I'll go grocery shopping tomorrow. Think this will be okay for tonight?"

The little girl looked so sad as she rubbed her tummy. Glitch desperately tried to wrack his brain for a solution. Suddenly, inspiration struck. "Hey, I've got an idea. Come with me."

He walked briskly back into the warehouse where dozens and dozens of cars lay waiting. "I need you to help me. Go through the seats and ashtrays and things and find any coins that you can. Can you do that?"

The girl nodded quickly. "Good. You start at this car and I'll start at the other end."

It was a mostly good plan. Glitch had gotten himself sidetracked at some point, but between the two of them they had a respectable pile of change when all was said and done. Glitch carefully counted and sorted the coins so he would have an accurate idea of how much they were working with. He smiled at her unasked question. "We are having tacos for dinner. What? You've never heard of tacos? Blasphemy! Tacos are crunchy things with meat and cheese and lettuce… They're very tasty. And we can get a lot of tacos for what we have here. I'll do some shopping tomorrow, though, I promise."

The little girl's smile was all he needed.

* * *

_Three years ago…  
_

The squad car pulled up outside a smallish house in the suburbs. It had a fresh coat of robin's egg blue paint and white trim to match the picket fence that wrapped around the green grass yard. It was as pretty a picture as you could hope for.

Ambrose tried not to be jealous as he climbed out of the car. "You live here?"

"Yeah. It's something, ain't it? We just signed the lease last month. Don't even have all the boxes unpacked yet."

"Someday I'm going to live in a nice place like this."

A scream interrupted whatever reply Officer Cain might have had as he was assaulted by what at first glance appeared to be a tiny green monster. He lifted the monster up and twirled it around. The monster giggled and shrieked happily and Ambrose could see it was a little boy.

"Ambrose, I want you to meet Jeb. Jeb, this is Ambrose."

The little green monster held out a hand and Cain walked closer so Ambrose could shake it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ambrose."

Cain smiled when he saw that grin flash on Ambrose's face, even if it was gone again half a moment later.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Jeb."

"Wyatt Cain, are you bringing home strays again?" An attractive young woman with long blonde hair and a pleasant smile was walking down the brick path that lead from the front door. She kissed Officer Cain soundly on the lips and Ambrose felt a twinge of pain. They loved each other very much, that was obvious.

"Only the ones I run over with my car. Figuratively, not literally. Adora, meet Ambrose."

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Cain."

Adora turned her attention to Ambrose and gasped. "My goodness, Wyatt! He's skin and bones!"

Ambrose flexed his jaw. "And organs and tendons, ligaments, capillaries, veins, arteries, cartilage. In fact, if you want to get technical, organic meat-bag might be more apt a description than 'skin and bones.'"

Adora turned back to Officer Cain, looking for some clue, some hint on how to react. He smiled. "Don't worry, darling. He's just a little quick on the draw. Hope you don't mind having company for dinner? I may have mentioned your amazing meatballs a time or two."

"Certainly! Come on in." She took Jeb and began walking back inside. Ambrose stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed, Wyatt taking up the rear.

"So tell me, Ambrose! How did my husband come to invite you home for dinner?"

"He kind of just ran into me at school…"

***

_  
Present day…  
_

Glitch woke with start, panic clutching at his chest. Where was he? Where was this place? Unfamiliar shadows reached out at him from the walls.

He sat bolt upright and began scrambling at the blankets weighing him down. He had to escape! He had to get out of here! He fell off the couch… couch… couch and coffee table. Glitch looked around again. Plant in the TV… he was in his living room. What was he doing in the living room? Why would he sleep on the couch when he had a perfectly good… Oh, that's right. The little girl. The little girl was in his bed and he was out here. No wonder he couldn't sleep.

Glitch ran a hand through his sweat dampened hair. Changing routines wasn't a good thing. It was then that he noticed his hand was shaking. Shit! How long had it been since his last dose? Did he even remember to write it down?

He untangled himself from the blankets and walked to the bookcase, taking down an ornate wooden box from the top shelf. It was a pretty box. He set it on the coffee table, so he could sit on the sofa, and flipped up the iron latch and lifted the lid. Inside was a notebook, five or six brand new syringes still fresh in their packages, a long rubber hose and a few empty bottles with rubber stoppers.

Glitch's breath hitched. The bottles were empty. They couldn't be empty! He couldn't have lost track that badly! He flipped through the notebook to the last entry. He had made week long graphs with boxes designating the times he needed to take the drug and the correct dosages. Over the course of the last few years, he had managed to slowly wean himself down to the lowest possible dose and the longest time between them. Anything less would be dangerous, but he had to keep an extremely accurate account of things.

A sick feeling of horror washed through him as he carefully examined his chart and realized that he'd missed two doses. He looked at his hand again. It was trembling, but not shaking. He lifted his left hand. Not so much as a tremble in that one. He couldn't have missed two. Two would kill him. He barely even showing signs of missing one.

A tear rolled slowly down his cheek. He'd messed up. He'd made a mistake somewhere, somehow, and he couldn't remember what it was, much less how to fix it. He wrapped his arms around his chest, hugging himself tightly and rocking back and forth. If only he could remember!

A soft sound startled him and Glitch looked up to find himself being watched by the little girl wearing his too big t-shirt and thick woolen socks. She was concerned. He tried to give her a smile, but it felt shaky to him, maybe because he was struggling not to break down and weep. He held out his arm and she trotted over and sat on the couch next to him. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him. The physical contact seemed to help. "What are you doing up? You should be sleeping."

She looked up at him with her wide blue eyes and pointed at him.

"Me? I woke you up? Sorry, doll. I didn't mean to."

The girl looked down at his notebook with interest and pointed.

"That's a chart. It tells me when to take my medicine. But I missed two boxes here and I can't remember if I took my medicine or not."

The girl touched his cheek, questioning.

"No, that's not why I'm crying. I'm out of medicine and I don't have enough money to get any more."

The little girl shook her head and squirmed out from under his arm and trotted to where his coat hung up on a broken hat stand that was held upright with duct tape taped to the wall. She reached into the outside pocket and pulled out the brown paper package.

Glitch's eyes flew wide. "That's it! That's what I was looking for! How did you know?"

The girl shrugged and handed it over. Glitch tore the package open the rest of the way and carefully pulled out the small glass bottles. There were seven… There should have been more than seven… He lined them up in a row and counted them again. Why weren't there more than seven?

Glitch looked up at the insistent tugging at his sleeve. "Oh. Nothing's wrong. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. I just need to figure this out… just need to figure this out… just need to - "

Another tug at his sleeve. "Oh! Sorry. I was doing it again, wasn't I?"

The little girl nodded. Glitch gave her a hug. "I'm sorry I'm not a better knight in shining armor for you, princess. I'm more like Don Quixote, jousting at windmills. I'm going to do my very best for you, though. I promise. Say! I've got an idea! You can write your name down! You can write, right?"

The girl nodded. He handed her a pen and opened the notebook to a blank page. "Here, write your name down so I know what to call you. Hehe, not that I could remember it anyway… but if you write it down for me, I might."

She took the pen and wrote two letters, 'DG'. Glitch looked at them and giggled. "DG? That's not a name, those are initials! What do they stand for?"

DG shrugged.

"So you're going to make me guess, huh? Okay… Dick Grayson. No? Not Dick Grayson… umm, Dolly Gleevi? Haha, bad pun, that one… Distant Glasgow? Dainty Glockenspiel? Running out of G's now… Dog Gone It? Nope, that's got an 'I'… If it wasn't for the 'A', I could call you Adorable…"

_  
Adora, meet Ambrose…_

Thud.

Small hands were shaking him hard, the light had changed somehow. DG was frantically pushing at him and mewling in fright. It occurred to him suddenly that he wasn't breathing. He gasped a breath, gulping in air he hadn't even realized he'd been starved for. Another breath. And another. The mewling sound stopped.

Glitch sat up and ran a hand through his hair. He was on the floor. What was he doing on the floor? DG was holding the notebook for him to read. 'You fell over'

"I'm sorry. That happens sometimes, I think. You shouldn't worry about it too much, though. I haven't fallen over yet and not gotten right back up afterwards. But you should really be sleeping, Darling Girl. It's way past your bed time." Glitch struggled to his feet, then picked DG up and carried her to the bedroom. He placed her on the bed and tucked the blankets in around her. "There! All nice and snug!"

The look in her wide blue eyes stopped him for a moment. "It's alright. I'll be here when you wake up."

Glitch kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, DG. Sweet dreams, princess." He turned off the light and shut the door behind him.

_  
TBC_

_  
But only if I can get at least one teeny tiny little review… *sad face*_


	3. Chapter 3

Broken Fairytales part 3  
By Phantaz-Magoria

***

_Present day..._

Glitch was a sweating, panting mess by the time he had stumbled into the kitchen and dropped to the floor, completely exhausted amid his twenty overstuffed grocery bags. DG was standing in the doorway when he finally looked up, a tired smile breaking over his face.

"Hey, precious! Didn't see you standing there. I was trying to get back sooner, but the nearest grocery store is a mile and a half away and these bags must weigh, like, a hundred pounds or something. I didn't think I was going to make it the whole way. Shoulda stole one of those shopping carts."

DG smiled and shook her head.

"No? No stealing, huh? That's good, though. Stealing is bad. You should never ever sink that low. Here, help me up."

DG held out her hand and Glitch took it, struggling to his feet with a groan. He stretched and sighed when he felt his shoulders pop and settle back in place.

"Well! I've got all sorts of good stuff here."

He lifted one of the bags onto the counter and pulled out a gallon of milk and a carton of eggs.

"Here, put these in the fridge. I've got some orange juice, too, in there somewhere. Lots of vitamin C, but milk is important if you want to grow up big and strong. Hehehe, such a cliché, isn't it? But it's true. Milk gives you healthy bones, so you have to have at least one glass a day. Or you could have cereal with your milk. I bought some cocoa puffs. There's about a hundred different kinds of cereal and they're all ridiculously expensive. Unless you get the kind in the bag and not the box, but who wants to eat the bagged stuff, right? So anyways, I got you cocoa puffs because I didn't know what you liked and I know that I like cocoa puffs. Everyone likes cocoa puffs."

DG was smiling because Glitch was smiling. He handed her a block of cheddar cheese for the fridge.

"The cheese is so we can make grilled cheese sandwiches later. I also got some hot dogs and chicken nuggets. I got a ton of ramen. I used to get Top Ramen, but then I realized that Maruchen is five cents cheaper and it's almost exactly the same stuff. You can't even tell the difference, really. Ramen soup is probably the easiest food in the world to make. I think it was designed with drug users… well… brain… problem… people in mind…"

DG hugged him. Glitch was startled for a second, having been completely lost in thought for a moment, then hugged her back.

"Oh! And in case you're hungry now, I've got apples! They had Braeburn apples at the store and those ones are the best! They're crunchy and sweet and tart and tangy and not too juicy so they don't make a mess. I love Braeburn apples. I think they're in that bag over there! Could you get me one? Once we get all the cold stuff put away, I'll make us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They had too many kinds of jelly and I couldn't pick so I got grape and strawberry. We can have whichever one you want."

Thirty minutes later, after the chicken breasts, ground beef, and hot dogs had been put in the fridge and the Eggo waffles, ice cream, fish sticks, and frozen pizzas had been put in the freezer, along with all the other cold stuff that needed to be put away first, Glitch was carefully crafting two perfectly proportioned sandwiches. His measurements were as precise as a kid with an alchemy set could get. Approximately one tablespoon of peanut butter, which turned out to be one big knife scoop, and just about a tablespoon and a half of strawberry jelly, which of course was two medium knife scoops, since jelly didn't stick as well as peanut butter and would glop off onto the counter if you tried to get too much on.

DG watched him intently.

"And the real secret… the secret to making any sandwich perfect… is to cut it in triangles. You can try cutting it in half, or cutting it in squares, but I'm telling you, it won't be nearly as good as a sandwich cut into triangles. Triangles make everything perfect."

He grinned. "Except you. You're already perfect." He dabbed at DG's nose, leaving a smear of peanut butter. DG wrinkled her face and rubbed it off, then retaliated with a glob of jelly. "Hey! That's not fair, jelly's stickier!" Glitch rubbed the jelly off his face, then licked it off the palm of his hand. Then, since he already had it out, he stuck his tongue out at her. DG returned the gesture, making Glitch break down in giggles.

When he looked up, he saw that DG had his notebook out and had written him a note. 'Where did your books go?'

"My books?" Glitch was honestly puzzled. "What books?"

'The ones upstairs.'

Glitch looked up as if he could see through the floor. He bit his lip. He truly had no idea what she was talking about. Then slowly, painfully slowly, a memory of earlier that morning danced in front of his brain.

"Oh! The books! I, uh… well… I sold some of them." DG looked startled and Glitch rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to feel like he had done something bad. "I've still got another week's worth of work to do on the Camaro. That's the closest one to being done. Have to finish cars to get paid. Have to have money to buy food. We needed the food, needed the money. So I sold some books. Only thing of value I have left. If I, uh… If I had sold them to pay for drugs, that'd be one thing, right? But it wasn't drugs, alright? It wasn't drugs. It wasn't drugs…"

Glitch ran a shaking hand through his hair. Tremors already. When was the last time he had a fix? An insistent tugging at his sleeve made him look down.

DG had written a note for him, 'You mean medicine.'

Glitch let out a sharp laugh. "Medicine! Right. Listen, doll, I am not the right guy for this… I mean, I like you, you're a cute kid, but I am… I'm a bad guy. You don't want to get involved with me. I could find you a nice person to take care of you, a responsible person with a bank account and credit cards who won't have to worry about scraping change out of old cars to feed you at night. You know? Somebody who can buy you toys and dresses and who knows what kind of shampoo girls are supposed to use and don't just grab the bottle that says 'shiny' on it cause they think it's cool…"

DG watched him with sad blue eyes and Glitch felt the guilt gnaw at him deeper.

"You deserve somebody who can take care of you. Not an eighteen year old… h-h-high school dropout with a drug addiction…" Glitch broke off with a sob, looking away from those soulful eyes because it had become too hard to see himself reflected in them.

DG decided it was time for a hug. She wound her little arms around his waist and squeezed him as tight as she could. Startled he looked down at her. He took a breath and hugged her tightly in return, tearful eyes catching the note she placed on the table.

'But you make perfect sandwiches. That's all I need.'

* * *

_Three years ago…  
_

"Hey! Ambrose!"

Startled, Ambrose looked up from picking up his papers and school books where he had dropped them in the middle of the hallway. Officer Cain was coming down the hall towards him. Great. Just what he needed.

"Let me give you a hand with that."

Moment of truth. He could drive the well meaning officer away right now with a few careful barbs, some cool witticism. He could drive anyone away if he set his mind to it. Years in the orphanage, then a few more on top of that being passed around from foster home to foster home had taught him to protect himself with isolation. He could be cruel, say just the perfect thing to make the friendly light in those bright blue eyes disappear forever. It was easier if he didn't care about anyone.

But when it came down to it, Ambrose couldn't bring himself to hurt Officer Cain. He didn't know why, couldn't explain if he tried what made this person different, just that somehow he was. He swallowed whatever comment had been waiting just behind his teeth to spit out and ended up with a weak, "Thank you," instead.

Cain's smile was easy, lighthearted, completely unaware of Ambrose's internal struggle. "We're gonna have to work on your grip, boy."

"Right. Well. There's a reason I didn't make the football team."

"Oh, yeah? Thought it might be cause you're a hundred and ten underweight."

Ambrose chuckled. Banter was easy now that the first crisis of decision was past. "Fortunately for me, the chess club is a non body type prejudicial organization. We encourage kids to find their inner anorexic. Kind of a wonder we don't have more cheerleaders on the team."

"No kidding? You play chess?"

"Do I look like the type of person who 'plays' anything? I can't even play the piano; it sounds too much like frolicking."

"So what's your verb then?"

"Compete. I compete at chess."

"Smart ass." Cain was grinning as he said it.

"Are cops allowed to say 'smart ass' in school? Isn't that a little like swearing at your customers?"

"That may be true in most cases."

"Most cases, but not mine?"

"With you it's an endearment."

Ambrose ducked his head, blushing a bit. "Well, in that case, I will mention that I may not PLAY the piano, but I know how to operate one and can utilize it to perform concert pieces quite well."

Cain grinned. "Smart ass." Ambrose smiled back, a genuine smile that made his eyes glitter. Cain handed him a book. "So, those kids you were talking to…"

"You mean Zero and his pack of wolves?"

"Is he the one that… accidentally… bumped your arm just now?"

"Yeah, that's Zero."

"They bothering you?"

"No. Yes. Not specifically. They bother everyone." Ambrose frowned and stuffed some papers into a binder.

"What are they bothering you about?" Cain was trying to be gentle while he probed, but he was determined to get the information he needed.

"Nothing, okay?" Ambrose was getting frustrated.

"You can tell me tonight over meatloaf if you'd prefer…" He dangled the carrot.

Ambrose looked up. Meatloaf… Tempting.

"Zero offered to give me drugs in return for writing his senior paper for him. I told him to go fuck himself, he pushed me and walked away."

"Good for you, Ambrose... That's really good, kid, I'm proud of you. Just watch the swearing."

Ambrose rolled his eyes. "Alright. You want to play that way, fine. I told him to stuff his woefully small male member past his sphincter into his anus and to slide it in and out until the pressure against his prostate gland forces him to climax and he fills his large intestine with semen. Though I'm told you can do more or less the same thing with a dildo."

Cain rubbed his jaw, impressed in spite of himself. "Somehow, kiddo… you have this talent for making things far more obscene than they really should be. I think I'm a little more disturbed by the description than the swearing."

"Does that mean I can go back to telling people to-- "

"Nope. Not until you're eighteen. But next time the occasion comes up, I might steal your material."

Ambrose grinned. "Well, I got plenty more where that came from. Need some pointers, you can look me up."

"That's what the meatloaf's for. So I don't have to look you up. I'll admit, I'm kinda glad we didn't have this conversation at dinner… but the offer still stands."

"I think I'd still like to take you up on it, if that's okay."

"Sure, Ambrose. Wouldn't offer if it wasn't okay. We like having you over."

Ambrose ran a hand through his hair. He had all of his stuff together and he stood, clutching the pile of books and papers to his chest. "I think it's just you that likes having me over…"

"Naw, Jeb adores you. Adora likes you too. She was telling me the other day how she was bragging about you to her students at the college."

"Bragging about me? I'm not even her kid."

"Great thing about teachers is that every kid she meets is her kid too."

"You think so?"

"I know so. So, pick you up after school?"

"Yeah… That'd be great."

"See you then."

Ambrose walked to class smiling.

* * *

_Present day…_

What was he doing here? He didn't think he needed a fix… it didn't FEEL like he needed a fix… Usually he didn't need to remember needing a fix, he could just tell, but why was he here if he wasn't looking for drugs?

Glitch looked around the alley outside of the Stardust club.

He wished he could remember. He ran a hand through his hair. There was something in it. His hand, not his hair. Confused, he looked at what he held in his hand. It was a card. With a note on it.

He recognized his own writing, but couldn't for the life of him remember writing it.

'Glitch – We're out of money, out of food, and out of Erebus. The Camaro didn't get as much as it should have and the Jeep won't make as much as you need. You're doing this for DG, so stop glitching and go talk to Zero. We'll cry about it afterward, note cards are in your right pocket if you need help. With all due affection, Your sorry and pathetic self.'

Had it been a week already? He couldn't remember the last time he'd glitched this bad. Ironic, considering that he couldn't remember ANYTHING when he glitched this bad. A sinking feeling settled into his gut as he looked up at the side door of the Stardust.

What was he getting himself into?

The note in his hand burned almost like a flame and he swallowed his fear. This was for DG. This was for DG… This was for DG… He let himself glitch on that while he opened the door and slipped into the blackness inside.

The crowd was just as intense, just as noisy and as oppressive as every other time he'd been in here. He couldn't remember any time in particular, but he remembered the feeling of being here and being scared, and the smoke in the air and the smell of booze and the flashing lights that made his head hurt.

Panic welled in his chest. Panic he couldn't even pin down. Why was he so scared? He'd been here before… Something was about to change. Something deep down inside him could sense it and wanted to run away and hide.

This is for DG…

Through the smoke and darkness and colored lights, Glitch could see a familiar face, like a ghost from the past, ice blue eyes and white blond hair… couldn't be… The crowd moved and the memory was gone like a wisp of smoke on a breeze. But now he could see Zero at a booth in the corner. _Run, run now!_ his mind screamed at him. But he couldn't.

This is for DG…

He took a breath and made his way through the crowd to the booth. One of Zero's lackey had seen him coming and nudged his boss. Zero looked up at him with sneering contempt.

"What do you want, headcase?"

"I need to talk to you, Zero."

"Yeah, I gathered that. What do you want?"

"I don't have any money."

"Then you aren't getting your drugs. Simple as that."

"I thought we could come to some sort of arrangement…"

"Arrangement?" Zero raised his eyebrows, interested amusement seeping into his voice. "What kind of arrangement?"

"I need a job. I don't care what kind… as long as it makes money."

Zero laughed and his pack of wolves snickered, one of them with a particularly disgusting leer. Zero stood and walked around Glitch, sizing him up. "Well, what do you know, the pillar of virtue finally collapses. You want to work for me? Yeah, I can find you something." He grabbed Glitch's face and stared at him close, like looking at a horse's teeth before purchasing him. "Yeah. I could always use a pretty face like yours."

Zero let him go and Glitch had to struggle not to run away.

This is for DG… This is for DG… He repeated it over and over in his head. God, why did he feel so sick?

"If you want some work, show up at 56th and Anne Street at about midnight."

Glitch nodded quickly and turned to run out of there as fast as his feet could take him. But Zero's voice stopped him.

"Hey, Glitch!"

He turned to look over his shoulder. Zero had a wicked smirk on his face. "Wear a dress. Something pretty."

The wolf pack laughed and guffawed as Glitch retreated as fast as he could through the crowd. Even outside, gulping in the thick city air that smelled of rotting garbage and car fumes, he could hear their laughter echoing inside his aching head.

Tears of shame and despair and misery rolled freely down his face.

What was he getting himself into?

* * *

_TBC_

_As promised! Thanks for the reviews =) They make me happy  
_


	4. Chapter 4

Broken Fairytales part 4  
by Phantaz-Magoria

A/N: Because it occurs to me there might be some confusion from the last chapter. I had this whole thing written out in my head and it didn't dawn on me until I posted the last one that I forgot to actually write it down. Oops, my bad =) So, this fits in right in the middle of the last chapter. Or, we could pretend that I did it as an artistic endeavor to demonstrate how disjointed and mixed up Glitch's memory is. Yeah... that's a good excuse... right? Please review! Please!

* * *

_What happened that drove Glitch to desperation…_

The Camaro's hood was propped up and Glitch was leaning inside. The engine was purring like a kitten and his expert fingers were tweaking things here and there.

"Hey, DG! Could you press on the gas pedal for me? The… uh… right one."

Nothing happened.

"The other right one, I mean."

The engine rumbled and roared. Glitch smiled and tightened one last thing. Perfect. He lowered the prop and let the hood slam down.

He walked around to the driver's door and the smile on his face instantly disappeared. DG was crouched on the seat, looking paler than pale, tiny arms wrapped around her stomach. She handed him a note, 'I threw up.'

"Oh, honey. Come here." He picked her up. "You should have told me you were sick." She lay her head against his shoulder and he rubbed her back as he began carrying her back to the bedroom.

"You have to tell me these things cause I can't always figure them out on my own and I can't fix something if I don't know it's broken. Who am I kidding? I can't always fix things that I know are broken, but I can't even try if I don't know about it. You gotta help me with this stuff, kiddo. I'm a little broken myself, you know."

It wasn't until he got to the top of the stairs, rambling the whole way, that he realized she had fallen asleep in his arms. He placed her in the bed and took off her shoes before tucking her in. His movements were hurried and he couldn't necessarily remember why.

Then a call from down in the shop, a firm, "Hello? Anyone home?"

That was why he was hurrying! The buyer was coming today!

Glitch flew down the stairs and sprinted across the warehouse. "I'm here! Don't leave, I'm here!"

The buyer was scarcely eighteen and had grown up with money. He was here with his dad. Dad seemed to be the no nonsense type. This wasn't going to be good.

Glitch grinned apologetically, "I'm sorry, but I still have a few more touches to do. Could you come back in an hour?"

The dad stepped forward. "You said the car would be done by twelve o clock today. A business man that doesn't keep his word isn't worth doing business with. Now, is it done, or isn't it?"

Glitch ran a hand through his hair. This wasn't good at all. "It's done, there's just one little problem that I haven't been able to take care of yet. You see, my assistant was sick today and I've only just sent her home, but I haven't had a chance -- "

"Oh, what the HELL!" The teenager had opened the door and was backing away in disgust.

Glitch winced. "Yeah, I haven't had a chance to clean that up, yet." He went to the workbench and grabbed two handfuls of shop towels and hurried to clean up the mess.

The teenager wasn't happy. "Dad, I'm not paying ten thousand dollars for a car that smells like somebody else's shit."

"You're not going to Trevor."

Glitch was scrubbing at the carpeting. His shoulders slumped. "Sir, if you give me an hour, I can have the car shampooed and cleaned. You won't even know that -- "

"Are you saying that my son and I should accept an inferior product?"

"Not at all, sir. There's nothing inferior about this car. I've entirely rebuilt the transmission, it's a six speed manual now. She's got a six point two liter V8 engine, alloy wheels with racing tires, new shocks, new breaks…" Glitch trailed off. He could tell he wasn't getting anywhere with these people. "Just give me an hour."

The dad shook his head. "I'll give you eight thousand."

"You're going to drop two grand just because of a little vomit? You're joking."

"I don't joke about business, Mr… Mr. Cain, is it?"

"Eight grand doesn't even cover the parts. Give me an hour and it will -- "

"Eight thousand not a penny more."

"I'm sorry, I can't sell it to you for that."

"Come on, Trevor. We're taking our business elsewhere."

"Wait! Ninety five hundred. It's the lowest I can offer."

He would be okay with ninety five. He wouldn't be able to buy more Erebus until the jeep was finished, but it would pay off his credit with the dealer he bought parts from, would give him enough to restore the jeep and pay for food for the next week or two. He could live with ninety five.

"If you think you can afford to let a car like this sit around for months on end waiting for a buyer, you're more than welcome to try, but I won't pay more than eight thousand."

The business man had Glitch by the throat. That was the stranglehold. The crux of the matter. Glitch didn't have the money to rebuild the next car on the list until he sold the current one. He had very slowly and tenuously worked to acquire the capital that he had and he had nothing to spare to cover any hitches in his system. He could no more afford to let a car sit than he could to drive it off the wharf.

"Sir, I'd be losing money if I let you take it for that much. Nine thousand. We both know it's worth more."

"I'll be generous and write the check for eight seventy five. How does that sound?"

Glitch swallowed. Guess he wouldn't pay for food for the next week or two. And he would be hard pressed to finish the jeep without going over budget. Glitch shrugged. The last of the cash had gone to buying DG some new dresses, but he had some more books to sell if he needed, and the Erebus he had should finish the month out. As long as nothing else went wrong, he could make this work. Still, the words stuck in his throat, his mouth was as dry as paper. "I guess you've got a deal."

The business man smirked and pulled a checkbook out his pocket. He tore out a check and handed it over. Glitch felt hot anger flooding through him from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. The check was already filled out. He hadn't ever planned on paying full price.

He tossed the key ring to the young man and took the check. "Thanks."

Trevor caught the key and held up his hands. "What? You aren't going to clean the mess up?"

"For ten grand, I clean the mess up. For less than nine it's your problem. Good day, gentlemen."

Glitch wiped his hands off on a towel and dropped it into the waste bin on his way to the back. He was so angry he didn't even know how to deal with himself. His hands were shaking again. It was almost time for another dose of Erebus. He could take it early just this once. He could be irresponsible just this once. His insides were crawling as he climbed the stairs.

Glitch didn't even bother pulling the box off the bookcase, he just opened it and pulled out a syringe and the thin rubber hose. He rolled his black and red striped sleeve up past his elbow, tied the hose and pulled one end tight with his teeth. He filled the syringe. Just as he was about to slip the needle into his skin, a hand on his leg startled him.

He jumped. The needle stabbed him and broke, his arm knocked into the wooden box. He watched in frozen horror as it tumbled off the shelf, the delicate glass bottles inside spilling out into the air. He felt his heart skid to a stop when they shattered on the tile floor.

Glitch looked over to see DG standing beside. Her face had a look of shocked horror on it too. Glitch felt like he was going to be sick, but he forced himself to smile. "Hey, sweety. It's okay, don't… don't move okay, do NOT move."

Her lip quivered and her eyes began to fill with tears. She looked up at him as if to say she was sorry. Carefully, Glitch wrapped one arm around her and lifted her, carrying her over to the doorway to the bedroom.

"It's alright, DG. It was an accident, I know that. I just… I need you to stay over here because that stuff could hurt you real bad and I don't want you to be hurt. So stay right here and let me get this cleaned up, okay?"

Blood was dripping off of his fingertips. Wincing, he carefully pulled the broken needle out of his arm. He ran a hand through his hair, trying desperately to distract himself. He looked up with a more genuine smile. "So, what are you doing out of bed, honey?"

She handed him a note, 'I'm feeling really bad.' She pointed to her stomach then pointed at the broken glass on the floor. Then pointed again for emphasis.

"Worse because of this mess? Don't worry about it. It's no big deal… no big deal… no big deal…"

He was about to go start cleaning it up when she wrote out another note and handed it to him, 'I'm sorry I made you break your medicine'

"You didn't make me do anything, kiddo. You should be in bed, though, so you feel better."

DG shook her head. She couldn't sleep.

Glitch looked at her with concern, a frown tugging at the corner of his lips. She was extremely pale… He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. "I think you might be running a fever, but I can't tell. What do you think? You have to use the back of your hand, because your palms are more desensitized to hot and cold since you use them so much. Go ahead, try it."

DG felt her own forehead with her hand.

"See? Now feel mine." He knelt so she could reach him. "What do you think? You feel warmer than me, don't you?"

DG nodded.

"I'd have to get a thermometer to check for sure. I might have one downstairs. You go lay down and I'll go get it, okay?"

DG nodded again, looking for all the world like the sickest, most miserable little girl in the world. Glitch gazed sadly at the pile of broken glass before grabbing a broom and beginning to sweep it all into a dustpan. Where was he going to get enough money to replace it? Correction: Where was he going to get enough money _in time_ to replace it? He could use one of the other needles on the full syringe, but one dose… If he took it now, without more to follow he'd be a shivering, writhing, screaming mess by sun down tomorrow. By dawn, the pain would be gone and DG would be left pouring her own bowl of cocoa puffs.

He swept the glass into the trash can and went downstairs. He thought he had a first aid kit in the bathroom, but it'd been so long since he cared about anything like that that he couldn't remember for certain. Sure enough, there was an old first aid box and in that was an old fashioned glass thermometer, gathering dust in the corner. He grabbed that and a wet towel and trotted upstairs, cleaning the thermometer off as he went.

"I've got one!"

DG was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for him.

"Here, the fat end goes under your tongue. There. That way your mouth heats up the red liquid inside and then it will move to show us how hot you are. See, liquid takes up more space the warmer it is. Not so much that you would be able to notice, except that it's such a very thin tube inside. It's pretty cool when you think about it. But we have to wait a few minutes so, while that's working, I'm going to go finish cleaning up."

Glitch patted her on the head, then went and mopped up the spilled drugs and the last of the glass bits. Just to be safe, he threw away the towel and took the trash can down to the dumpster outside and emptied it. By the time he came back inside, the thermometer was more or less done.

"One hundred one. That's definitely a fever." He sat on the bed next to DG and she curled over onto his lap. "I'm not very good at treating fevers. I could make you chicken soup?"

DG shook her head plaintively.

"No soup, huh. Could get you an ice pack, might help bring the fever down."

DG just snuggled closer. Glitch rested his hand on her shoulder and leaned sideways so he could see her face. "Just want someone to cuddle with, huh?"

DG nodded just a tiny bit. She was already almost asleep. Glitch sighed. He needed to go cash that check, maybe stop at the store and get some cold medicine. But he supposed he could wait until she fell asleep.

* * *

_Two years ago…_

"You don't have to carry that, you know. I can get it."

Cain was carrying a large brown box up the stairs. The same stairs where he and Ambrose had met the year before. Ambrose was watching him carefully, a nervous expression on his face.

"Naw, it's okay. Adora threatened to castrate me if this didn't make it safely to the science fair this time. She thinks you've got a real chance of winning."

"You sure I can't carry it?"

"I love ya, kid, but I sure as hell don't trust you with my balls, but thanks for the offer."

Ambrose snorted. "Well, when you put it that way, I really don't want to handle your balls either. Keep the box."

"Glad you see it my way." They were almost on the third floor.

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question, sir?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you doing this? I mean, any of it? You don't offer to carry other people's stuff, you don't invite any of the other kids home for dinner. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm kinda waiting for the shoe to fall here. And don't get me wrong, or anything, I love coming over for dinner, and I like babysitting Jeb, and you're real awesome and everything… but why?"

"Why? That's a pretty heavy question. Especially on a birthday."

"I don't ask questions very often. Thought I'd make it worthwhile."

Cain readjusted his grip on the box. "I do it cause I like you, kid."

"You like me? Is that… like as in… Catholic priest like me… or…?"

"No, it's more of a… Adora and I would like to adopt you sort of like."

Ambrose stopped walking.

"You want to adopt me?"

"Yeah. Unless… well, unless you don't want us to."

"You're serious."

"Yeah. Figured it would be sort of a sixteenth birthday present."

Ambrose was still trying to process the enormity of it all. "Most kids get a car for their sixteenth birthday."

"Well, I'm not sure about the car. I'd have to talk to Adora to see if we could swing it… but if not, would a family be an okay substitute?"

Ambrose almost felt like he couldn't breathe. It took him a moment to realize the aching in his chest was happiness. "I think… I think I'd like that."

Cain smiled and began walking again. The auditorium was just down the hallway. "Good. Just act surprised when Adora tells you about it at your birthday party tonight."

"You guys planned me a party too?"

"Yeah, umm. Act surprised by that too, would ya?"

"Yes, sir." Ambrose was smiling happily.

"You can call me Wyatt. You know that, right? Or Dad, if you prefer…"

"I'll try to remember that… Dad. Wow, that sounds kind of weird, huh?"

"You'll have plenty of time to get used to it, kiddo."

Ambrose grinned. Today was turning out to be a pretty good day…

* * *

_Present day…_

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

Glitch wasn't certain that he heard correctly. He always felt out of place in banks and he could feel anxiety creeping up his back between his shoulder blade, a creepy, tickling feeling like a thousand tiny little spiders crawling over his skin. He'd been waiting forever and the girl behind the counter looked at him with that fake sort of regretful apology look. She couldn't help him, and she was sorry about it, but she would forget entirely about him the moment the next customer walked up.

"I said that there's been a stop order put on this check and we can't deposit it for you."

"A stop order?"

"Yes, sir. I'm really very sorry, but there isn't anything we can do."

"Nothing? Nothing at all?"

"I'm sorry, sir."

Glitch put his head in his hands. He shouldn't be surprised. He should have seen this coming. "I don't suppose you could tell me when this happened, could you?"

"It looks like it only came through about forty-five minutes ago."

"Figures." Glitch felt anger and fear mixing inside him, that high strung feeling that told him a nervous breakdown and lots of tears were just cresting on the horizon. "Can you tell me if there's any sort of… of… reciprocating action I could take? Because this gentleman has already driven off with the car he purchased with this check and if he's put a stop order on it, he really is kind of stealing from me and I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it."

"Well, sir, you can file a grievance with the police department, but I'm afraid that's the only information I can give you."

"The police department… great. Thanks." For nothing…

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Sure you are. Can I have the check back, please? Thank you."

"Can I help the next person in line?" She hadn't even waited for him to leave her counter. He couldn't really blame her. The rain had started up again when he walked outside. Today didn't seem like it could get any worse. He shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking home in the rain.

* * *

_Two years ago..._

"Just do what we want and we won't have to kill them. It's that simple."

"Zero, please don't do this."

"Look at them. I don't think the wife can take another hit like that, do you? She might even be dead already. Then we start on the kid next. Now do what you're told. Unless you want to see more?"

"No, please stop, please God stop!"

"All it takes is one little word…"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I'll do what you want, just please don't hurt them anymore, please? Please?"

"Now you're starting to see sense. Get it done. You've got one hour before the baseball bat starts swinging again."

"One hour? I can't… it can't be done in an hour…"

"Then I suggest you work fast…"

* * *

_The straw that broke the camel's back…_

It was beginning to get dark outside. Glitch could see the rain falling outside the glass doors of the Emergency Room. By the time he had made it back home, DG's fever had risen to a hundred and five and had developed the nastiest cough Glitch had ever heard. With a fever that high, he couldn't justify not bringing her here. Fevers that high were too dangerous to mess around with. The cough made him wince in sympathy, but the fever was what worried him.

So Glitch had cursed and cursed inwardly, but smiled on the outside and told her it would be okay and that they were going on an adventure. And it had been. Glitch had taken enough money for the bus, because even he wasn't silly enough to think he could carry an eight year old girl all the way to the hospital. He'd been tempted to try, but one look at her glazed blue eyes and the black circles under them and her pale pale face had convinced him that this wasn't the time to be frugal. The bus ride hadn't been bad. He'd asked the driver to kindly remind him when his stop came up and they had been nice enough to help. That wasn't always the case and Glitch had long since given up on busses, but having DG with him helped.

One thing Glitch had noticed about DG was that she seemed to make his life better. His memory seemed to work better when she was around, anyways. He hadn't glitched in days… He was probably coming due for one. But having her around was pleasant. It was nice. And now he was waiting for her to come back.

He sat in the uncomfortable waiting room chair, avoiding the accusing glances from the nursing staff. They seemed to be able to stair right through him, straight through his sodden and drenched clothes to the bruised needle tracks on his arms. Every look he caught from them seemed condemning, as if they knew from a glance that he was a drug addict and what was he doing with such a sweet little girl and how dare he lay a finger on her and he obviously couldn't take care of himself so what was he even thinking trying to take care of somebody else.

Or maybe it was just him thinking those things. It was hard to tell, especially when he went too long without his Erebus. He had decided to save his one shot left for when he really needed it. When the pain became too intense, he would take it. Right now he was just nervous and shaky. And queasy. And shaky. His leg was doing its own thump, thump, thump routine while he waited. Like Thumper pounding the log in Bambi… He willed it to stop. Ten seconds later it started again.

After hours of waiting, a young man in a lab coat came out of the doors that DG had been taken behind. He had a clipboard.

"Are you Mr. Cain?"

Glitch shot to his feet. "How is she?"

"She has bacterial pneumonia. We've gotten her fever down and she's resting comfortably. We've started her on some antibiotics, but we'd like to keep her here over night. We've already moved her to a bed upstairs."

Glitch nodded slowly. "Okay… But she's going to be okay, right?"

The doctor nodded. "She'll be fine. I had some more questions to ask about your family. You said DG was…"

"My sister."

"Your sister, right. And your father…"

"Is at work right now. I take care of DG while he's gone. I called him, but he couldn't leave work and I couldn't get the fever under control which is why I brought her here, but that was the right thing to do, right? Because she's really sick and everything…"

"Yes, Glitch is it? You did the right thing. But what I need to talk to you about is the insurance. Now, you said you don't have any sort of insurance plan. Are you certain?"

"Yeah, I'm certain."

"Is there any way you could contact your dad and find out for sure? Maybe he could give you the insurance information over the phone?"

"I… umm, well, I could call him, but I'm pretty sure he'll say the same thing."

"The reason I'm asking is because things like this can be very expensive. Just to be seen in the Emergency Room is three hundred dollars. Then add in the lab tests, the antibiotics, that's another seven hundred fifty. The overnight stay is going to add even more to the costs. It would really be for the best if you could find out about that insurance, okay?"

Glitch could actually feel the blood draining from his face at every word, but he managed a slight nod. "Yeah, I can find out. Can I, uh… Can I see her now?"

"I'm afraid that won't be possible. Visiting hours are over and she's asleep. It's best to let her rest."

"But… but I'm her brother. I should… I should stay with her."

He could feel that familiar twitch… the glitch waiting to happen. This was the absolute worst time for it. He bit his lip and struggled to stay together.

"I can assure you, she will be perfectly fine tonight. You should go home and get some sleep. You can come back and see her tomorrow."

There was something wrong, something wrong about this. Family members had a right to stay, but the gazes from the nurses made him feel crawly all over, made him feel wrong somehow. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe there was nothing wrong about this at all. He took a breath and nodded.

"Alright. I'll try to have the insurance information by then… but.. but… but if I don't, what… what sort of, uh… cost are we looking at?"

"All told, it should run close to two thousand dollars, but at this point, I can't say. There could be complications, we could need to keep her longer than a day. You'll have to get with billing when you check her out."

"Th… th… thank you."

The doctor was looking at him funny too, now. He had to leave, had to get out of here. He nodded stiffly and walked towards the door, not bothering to look back.

Outside, he lifted his face to the sky, hoping the rain would hide whatever tears might escape. How in the world was he going to get two thousand dollars!?

A sick twisting cold feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that he knew of a way. He knew somebody who could help.

He had to find Zero…

* * *

_TBC_


	5. Chapter 5

Broken Fairytales part 5  
by Phantaz-Magoria

_Warning! This chapter is somewhat darker than previous ones and includes some non-consensual goings on. Be afraid...  
_

* * *

_Late in the evening…_

"Hey, mister. You got an extra one of those?"

The stranger looked up from lighting his cigarette.

"Jesus, kid, what are you, twelve?"

The young man bristled. "I'll be nineteen this year."

The stranger shook his head. Nineteen… He was used to seeing kids in this alleyway. It was the bad part of town, right outside one of the worst bars in town. People came here for one of two reasons; to lose themselves or to lose everyone else.

He never asked what went on in the building next door. It wasn't his business… not any more. Drugs and prostitution at least, judging by the kids he met in this alleyway. This one was interesting, slightly different somehow. A little less lost than the other ones. He was dressed much more tastefully than most of the other boys the stranger had seen back here. He wasn't wearing a shirt, just a black leather vest that hung open to reveal a lean torso covered in some sort of silvery, shimmery body paint. He had fishnet sleeves that ended in black biking gloves and a pair of leather pants that hung indecently low on his hips and looked like they could have been painted on, they were so tight. His black hair had been gelled and tussled and spiked to look alluring and he had beautiful brown eyes, framed by smoky blue eye shadow and black liner.

He was gorgeous if you were into that sort of thing.

The stranger could only imagine what he himself looked like. His clothes were wrinkled, his beard was scraggly. He hadn't had a hair cut in too long of a time. He probably looked like a homeless bum. He pulled an extra cigarette out and handed it over.

"Thanks." The kid's hands were shaking as he took it. "Got a light?"

"Yeah." He held the lighter while the young man leaned forward and tried to hold the end of the cigarette steady in the flame. He was shaking too much to be successful and the stranger placed his own hand on the kid's to help steady him until the cigarette was lit. The kid smiled gratefully and stepped back, taking a quick puff and blowing the smoke out.

The stranger took a closer look. The young man was trembling from head to foot and the stranger chuckled. "If you're cold, kid, you shoulda worn more clothes."

"Cold doesn't bother me too much. Can't really feel it."

"Yeah? You're shivering."

"Too much coffee. Or maybe its nerves, I guess."

"Huh." Couldn't blame the kid for being nervous. "What brings you to this place anyway?"

"A job." The young man sighed, mixed emotions drifting across his face. "Just a job."

The stranger knew he was going to regret asking. "What kind of a job?"

The kid shrugged. "Dancing, mostly. Just dance and smile and look pretty…"

"This isn't one of those gigs where folk want you to do more than just dance and look pretty?"

The kid looked at him with sharp brown eyes that seemed to carry all the sadness of the world in them. "I've been trying not to think of that part."

"Why are you here if you don't want to think about it? Why do this sort of thing?"

The young man shrugged and smiled ironically. "Like carnivores to carnal pleasures so will we to desperate measures."

"Cute. Who said it?"

"I think it's part of a song, actually."

"So, that's it? You're desperate?"

"Pretty much sums up the state of affairs, yeah."

"People that desperate for money usually only use it for one thing."

"Ferrari's?"

"I was going to say drugs."

"If it was just the drugs, I wouldn't do this sort of thing."

"So, I was right. You are a user."

"I think the correct term is addict."

"Addict, user… What's the difference?"

"The difference is that drugs use me, it certainly isn't the other way around. If I could stop, I would."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because I can't."

"Lots of people say that. They've got programs that can help."

"They can't help me." The young man took a final drag off the cigarette before dropping the butt on the ground and scuffing it out with the toe of his boot. "If it was just the drugs, I wouldn't do this sort of thing."

"You said that."

"Did I?"

"Yeah."

The kid shook his head, trying to shake off whatever daze he was in.

"Alcohol is just another drug. I won't judge yours if you don't judge mine."

"Alcohol doesn't kill people."

"That's a load of shit and you know it."

"Watch the swearing, kid."

The young man's head shot up and the glassy look in the brown eyes faded just a bit. "Excuse me?"

"I said, take it easy on the swearing."

"Do I know you? You seem awfully familiar, have we met before?"

A memory floated just behind his eyes, so close he could reach out and touch it. But it was one of THOSE memories. The ones that looked so tantalizing, but trying to grasp them was like trying to grab shards of glass with your bare hands. The harder you tried to hold it, the deeper it cut until it was so slick with blood you couldn't hold onto it anyway.

He had learned long ago to be content that he had memories, even if he couldn't always remember what they were about. There was something about this stranger that he remembered or maybe it just reminded him of someone he used to know. But there was definitely a memory there.

The stranger seemed to be struggling with his own memories. "Not unless you were friends with my boy. You ever meet a kid named Ambrose Wilson?"

_Ambrose… _

Gears slid into place and suddenly this stranger had a name and he could REMEMBER it!

_Wyatt Cain, Officer Wyatt Cain, Badge number 221, married to Adora Cain, father of Jeb Cain AND Ambrose Wilson Cain, Ambrose, Ambrose… Ambrose!_

And then, all too soon, the elation he felt at remembering something, anything, that had happened more than just a few hours ago died with the sick realization that he wasn't Ambrose anymore. That happy memory didn't belong to him and pretending that it did… or had… was useless. All it would bring was pain and sadness and hadn't they both already suffered enough?

It wouldn't be right. He couldn't… the man must have gotten used to him being gone by now. If the man knew who he was, it would only crush him harder when he died again.

With a sigh of despair, he let the memory go, watched it drift away into the back recesses of his brain, a thin wisp of shadow that he would never see again. "No. No, I don't know anyone named Ambrose."

The stranger's eyes, bloodshot and so painfully hopeful for that split second, dimmed in disappointment. "No, I guess you wouldn't, would you?"

The memory was gone completely now and Glitch couldn't remember why the stranger looked so sad or why he felt so bad about it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I just… For a moment I thought… You look a lot like one of my boys. I thought you might have been him, for a second."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. I'm too old to be jumping at ghosts. He, uh… He would have been your age by now."

"What happened to him?"

"Beaten to death by a drug dealer. Him and his brother. My wife too."

Glitch couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he said again, "I'm sorry."

"Happened a couple years ago. Drinking is the only thing that helps me forget. I've been kicked out of every bar in town. This is the only place that lets me get as drunk as I need to and leaves me in peace."

"You don't seem that drunk. A little, but not bad."

"I got another hour before they close. I'm just getting warmed up."

"Ever thought about quitting?"

"Nope. Never thought about quitting."

"They've got programs that help with that sort of thing, don't they?"

The stranger with the blue eyes growled. "Thought you weren't going to lecture me if I laid off you and your drug habit."

"Changed my mind. You look like you need saving. I seem to be in the business these days."

"You're going to save me? That's rich, kid."

"You seem like the sort of person who deserves it."

"Yeah? Okay. I'll play along. How are you going to save me?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet. I'll think of something. I used to be good at thinking of things… now…"

The door to the building swung open just then, and a nasty looking bouncer looked out. "What the hell you doing out here, Glitch? You want me to tell Zero you skipped out on the job? Get your ass back in there!"

The look on the stranger's face was one of horror and revulsion. "Zero? You work for Zero?!" The stranger grabbed Glitch by the vest and slammed him up against the brick wall so hard his skull cracked against it and lights flashed behind his eyes. "You didn't tell me you worked for that sorry son of a bitch!"

Glitch cringed in fright, not fighting or struggling, even though his tip toes barely touched the ground. "Y-y-you don't understand… I don't have a choice."

The bouncer stepped fully into the alleyway. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to step back."

Cold blue eyes darted sideways to glance at him. "What's it to you?"

"This gentleman has been bought and paid for and I can't allow you to damage the merchandise."

The look of intense loathing on the stranger's face made Glitch's belly lurch uncomfortably. With a sneer, the stranger dropped him and wiped his hands on his pants

"You disgust me."

Glitch watched him walk back into the bar an unnameable misery crawling at his insides in time with the fire creeping along his skin.

The bouncer shot him a sympathetic look. "Come on, kid, you only got another minute or so before they notice you're missing."

Glitch looked at the door the stranger had disappeared behind one last time before nodding and following the bouncer into the dark hallway.

* * *

_Some time ago…_

"Hey, Ambrose! Come give me a hand here!"

Ambrose dropped his school bag at the entrance to the garage. Cain was leaning over the hood of a beat up old corvette.

"What do you need, Dad?" It was still weird saying it, but the smile on Cain's face every time he did was worth forcing himself to get used to it.

"Well, I bought this pretty hunk of junk here for a song at the auction today. Trouble is, it doesn't run."

Ambrose stood next to him and examined the engine. "Seems kind of silly to buy a car that doesn't run, doesn't it?"

Cain smiled. "Well, that's the point. You're going to help me fix it."

"I am?"

"Sure. It wouldn't be your car if you didn't invest some good old blood, sweat, and tears into her."

Ambrose's eyes twinkled in delight. "My car?"

"Your car."

"Wow…" He ran his hands lovingly over the front left fender.

"Well? You like her?"

"I think she's the prettiest thing I've ever seen. You didn't have to, you know? I was just joking about getting a car for my birthday."

Cain smiled. "Well, I missed the tree house building stage with you. The way I figure, this will be a great way to catch up on all those father-son projects we might have missed out on."

Ambrose ducked his head, not quite sure how to express how happy he was just now. Cain saw his struggle and reached over to ruffle his hair.

"First thing's first though. We have to inventory everything that needs fixing. That way we've got an idea what needs to be started first. We'll keep track of everything in a journal and your first job as assistant mechanic is to take really good notes..."

* * *

_Present day…_

When Wyatt Cain left the bar an hour and a half later, the first thing he heard were screams for help that were quickly silenced and muffled shouts. A scuffle, the sound of something hard banging against a metal trash can once… twice. He neared the corner and looked around. He couldn't see anybody, but he could hear the scuffling from behind the dumpster.

"Hold his arms, dammit!"

Another cry, muffled by some sort of gag.

"Keep him still!"

"We're trying, Chaz!"

Cain had finished rounding the dumpster and the sight he saw made him sick. Three men held down the young kid that he had been talking to earlier face down on the concrete. His face was beaten and bloody and tears traced wet mascara streaks and silver paint down the side of his face. He was screaming, but the noise was blocked by the dirty rag stuffed in his mouth. One of the men had wrapped a belt around his neck and had it cinched tight.

That wasn't even the most disturbing part of the scene. The three men had pulled Glitch's tight leather pants down to his ankles. One of them was pulling his own pants back up and it looked like another was getting ready to take his turn.

Cold fury burned in Cain's chest. He was too drunk to care that he was outnumbered three to one. He grabbed a broken beer bottle from the ground and stepped forward, growling, "Get your filthy hands off him!"

The effect was immediate. All three of them jumped away from the cowering body at their feet, looking just as if they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. It only took them a moment to recover and the ringleader stepped forward, a sneer on his face as he rubbed his jaw.

"Hey, check it out guys! Don't you recognize him? It's that ex-cop who's family we fucked over couple years ago."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it? Where's your shiny star now, tin man?"

"About to get shoved up your ass in a minute, boy."

The three circled around him like a pack of dogs and he crouched, ready to meet their attack. It never came. The leader scoffed. "Come on. He's nothing but an old drunk and a waste of our time. But I'm sure Zero would love to hear about it. Let's go."

The wolf pack laughed and snickered and howled, but they were careful to keep just out of Cain's reach as they left. He waited until he was certain they were gone before he dropped the broken bottle.

Now he could turn his attention to the young man that still crouched on the ground. He had managed to pull his pants up and was trying to wipe the blood and scum from his face with little success.

Cain touched the boy lightly on the arm, wincing inwardly at his violent, terrified flinch.

"Hey, kid? You doing alright?"

"I'm f-f-fine."

"You sure don't look fine." Cain watched Glitch with sympathetic eyes as the young man tried to make himself more presentable. Cain pulled a wadded up napkin out of his pocket and handed it to Glitch so he could at least get most of the drying semen off his face. He was shaking all over, sweating. His skin was hot to the touch in spite of the frigid temperatures tonight. Aside from being beaten to a pulp and raped, the boy was obviously extremely ill. "You sure you're alright?"

"Why should you c-c-care?"

"What I said to you before… that was wrong of me. I've got no right to judge you. Think you could forgive me?"

"I d-d-don't know."

"Well, I guess that's honest." Glitch sniffled and two new tears rolled quickly down his cheeks. Cain reached up to rub them away. "Hey, come on, now. You don't need to cry. I know it hurts, but you're a tough kid…"

"I'm not crying cause it hurts, I'm crying because I really needed that money! I don't know what I'm going to do!" Glitch couldn't stop himself from breaking down any longer. The pain was too much, the whole day had just been too much. Every one of his joints felt like they'd been dipped in molten lava and the stabbing pain that had been crawling across his skin for the last hour was starting to move deeper to his insides. He doubled over, agony and misery ripping through his body. He was trying desperately to hold himself together and knowing full well that he couldn't anymore. Tears flowed freely as he began to weep and sob in fearful desperation.

Cain couldn't stand it anymore. He pulled the young man's quivering body into his arms and began to rock him, holding him as tight as he dared, as he would have held his son to comfort him from a nightmare.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. I promise, everything's going to be okay. You're gonna get through this."

"I c-c-can't!" he wailed and turned his head into Cain's shoulder and clutched at his shirt.

Cain held him tighter. "You can! I don't know much about you, kid, but I know that you're strong, so much stronger than this and you're gonna be alright."

With a strong exertion of will, Glitch was able to calm himself and even his breathing out. "This was my last chance to make everything alright and I screwed it up. Without that money, I'm going to die and DG… She's going to be lost…"

"You're not gonna die, Glitch. You're just going through withdrawal. It's not pleasant, but it's not gonna kill you, either."

His voice was quiet and world weary, "I can't make you understand…"

"Who's DG?"

"She's my… She's my sister. She's in the hospital. I can't pay for it… that's why I needed the money. They're going to take her away and I promised her I would look after her… promised… p-p-promised…"

"Glitch? Glitch! Stay with me, kid!" The young man's eyes had rolled up into the back of his head and the shaking of his limbs intensified into a full blown seizure. It didn't last very long. Fifteen… twenty seconds maybe. It seemed to Cain that his heart hadn't beat once in that entire time. "Glitch?"

With a gasp, the boy opened his eyes and lurched up. Cain held him tight. "Shh, shh, shh. It's okay. Just stay still."

Confused brown eyes looked up into his then rolled around wildly to take in his environment. He looked at Cain again and licked his lips, looking even more confused than before while he shivered uncontrollably. His voice was tentative and quiet. "My name's Glitch. Have we…?" His body continued to tremble in Cain's arms. "Do I…" He blinked once, twice. "I know you… don't I?"

It was Cain's turn to look confused. "Yeah, kid. You know me. We met a couple hours ago."

"Hours? Wh… what time is it?"

"Close to three thirty."

His body tensed and he tried to stand up. "Shit! I'm late!"

Cain held him down. "Easy, kid!"

He struggled to free himself from Cain's protective hold on him. "I was supposed to meet Zero at midnight, I'm late! Let me go! Please?"

A lump formed in Cain's throat. "You already met him, Glitch. Don't you remember?"

His face fell as realization dawned in his eyes. He relaxed back into Cain's hold. His voice was quiet, scared. "I glitched again…" He looked around the alley way. "What happened? Did I… get mugged, or something?"

"Yeah, you did. You're hurt pretty bad, but I'm taking you to the hospital and you're gonna be just fine."

"Oh. Okay."

The kid's eyes rolled back again and his head dropped against Cain's shoulder. Cain tensed, waiting for another seizure. Thankfully, it didn't come but in the few short minutes they'd been talking, it seemed like Glitch's fever had climbed even higher if possible. He had to get him to a hospital fast.

He got to his feet and hoisted Glitch in his arms, grunting in surprise. "God, kid, I've carried around German Sheppards that weigh more than you do."

Just outside the alley, he was able to flag down a taxi. If the driver thought there was anything strange about a man who'd obviously had plenty to drink carrying an unconscious teenage boy dressed up as a male prostitute, he kept his opinions to himself. Perhaps the fact that the kid had another full blown seizure within seconds of getting into the car might have convinced the reluctant cabbie to shut up and drive.

Between that and Glitch's continual lapses in and out of consciousness, the ten minute ride was the most harrowing of Cain's life. He didn't know why he cared so much about the fate of this one kid that he had only met hours before, but he knew deep down that he was important somehow, as if saving him would somehow turn back time and allow him to save one of the people that he had been powerless to save two years ago.

The taxi pulled up outside of the Emergency Room and Cain threw a wad of bills at the driver before hastily carrying the thin, shaking young man into the hospital. He was met just inside the sliding doors by a nurse with a gurney. He gently placed the shuddering body on the bed as the nurse asked, "What happened?"

"He was raped. At first I thought he was just in shock, but he's had three or four seizures in the last twenty minutes…"

Another nurse had joined them and was starting strip Glitch's clothes off him right there in the waiting room while she called instructions. "His fever's too high, we have to get him into an ice bath, now!"

Cain watched, eyes wide with concern as they frantically wheeled him to the back.

"Sir?"

He shook his head. "Sorry?"

"Sir, I noticed there were needle tracks on his arms. Has he taken any sort of drugs tonight?"

"I, uh… I don't really know. It's possible. I know he's an addict."

"Do you know what drugs he does take?"

"No, no I really don't…" Cain rubbed the back of his neck.

"Erebus." Cain and the nurse turned to look at the twelve year old black kid that had come to stand by them. He had nice sneakers and a basketball in one hand. His other hand was wrapped in gauze. "He does Erebus."

The nurse blanched. "Erebus? Are you sure?"

"Sure, I'm sure, lady. Glitch used to be my best friend before he got involved in that shit. Sorry, that crap."

The nurse didn't wait to ask more questions. She ran to the back to deliver this tiny bit of information. Cain looked down at the kid.

"What's your name?"

"Shoe."

"So, you know Glitch, huh?"

"Yeah. He looked out for me when I first got put in the foster home. He was a pretty cool guy back then."

"What happened?"

"Well… first he got adopted. That was cool. I mean, it sucked that he was leaving and all, but it was cool that he was happy. And he still came around to shoot hoops with me, so that was okay."

"But something worse happened?"

"Yeah. There was this kid at the high school that wanted Glitch to make drugs for him. He used to be a whiz at that science and biology stuff. But Glitch said that he didn't want to have anything to do with that, so they kidnapped his family and said they'd kill them if he didn't do what they wanted, so he gave in."

Cain's heart skipped a beat. It was so similar… too similar to be just a coincidence. He gestured to the kid to follow him over to the seats so he could sit down. The boy sat next to him.

"I guess under the circumstances, giving in isn't so bad. So what happened next?"

"Well, he made their crap for them just like they wanted and they killed his family anyway. Then they beat him up and tested the drug on him to make sure it worked right. They kept him around for a while, I guess. They needed him to make their drugs for them so they kept him locked up. It was like he'd gone and disappeared. Then one day, he slips and forgets to keep the formula secret and they get it from him, so now they don't need him around and they kick him out on the street, right? Well, he makes his way back to Mrs. Jensen's house, but she won't have anything to do with drug dealers and stuff, so she kicks him out too and threatens to call the cops if she sees him again. He spent the next couple of months living in the basement at school. I'd smuggle him food and stuff. Then he gets found out and has to move again. Kind of a sucky way to live, you know?"

"Yeah, no kidding."

"He used to be a really good guy. He didn't deserve any of this. For a while he thought he did. Deserve it, you know? For getting his family killed."

"What changed?"

"Nothing really. He just forgot. Erebus makes you forget." Cain and the little boy were quiet for a time. Then the boy looked up at Cain. "Is he gonna be alright?"

"I hope so. Tell me something, Shoe. His name wasn't always 'Glitch' was it?"

He didn't know how he knew what the answer was going to be. It was just a feeling of dread and despair that had settled into his gut. A feeling that was stronger and more poignant than the alcohol he constantly tried to drown himself in.

He knew the answer before the kid even opened his mouth.

"No. It used to be Ambrose."

* * *

_TBC…_

_A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviews =) They make me happy. I'm sorry this got darker, but I promise there is a light at the end of the tunnel somewhere. Also, the lyric mentioned is from a song called 'What You Live By' by Harvey Danger. Anyway, hope you all liked it._


	6. Chapter 6

Broken Fairytales part 6  
by Phantaz-Magoria

* * *

_Present day…_

Wyatt Cain sat in an uncomfortable chair in an uncomfortably quiet hospital room. The only sound was the soft beeping of the heart monitor, the only thing that reassured him that Ambrose was still alive. He was too pale, too still. He couldn't even see the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

Cain supposed it was an improvement from the thrashing and the violent shaking. The doctors had given him a muscle paralytic to stop the seizures and buy him some time. Some time… Cain's heart wrenched.

The doctor had in no uncertain terms told him that was all they were doing.

He wanted to drown out the memory of that conversation, but it kept playing over and over again in his head…

"_I don't understand."_

"_I'm sorry, sir. I know this is hard to hear, but there's nothing we can do for him except keep him comfortable."_

"_But you know what the problem is. If you know what the problem is, you should be able to fix it."_

"_That's not how Erebus works, Mr. Cain."_

"_Then explain it to me!" Cain was pacing back and forth while the doctor watched with sympathetic eyes._

"_The first thing that Erebus does to a person is to destroy their brain's ability to produce a specific necessary enzyme. Without this enzyme, the brain can't control the electrical signals that are sent to the various parts of the body. It begins to flood the body with erroneous signals, telling the muscles to expand and retract rapidly. This accounts for the constant shivering. The longer the body is without this enzyme, the worse the effect gets until the convulsions begin to affect his heart and lungs. Once that happens..."_

_The doctor raised his hands, a gesture of defeat._

"_There has to be something… anything! I can't lose him."_

"_Mr. Cain, the only thing that keeps Erebus addicts alive is more Erebus. That's partly why it's so deadly. Coupled with the havoc it plays on short term memory, most addicts don't survive more than a few months without somebody taking care of them and strictly regimenting their drug intake."_

"_Then why can't we just give him more Erebus?"_

"_It's not as simple as that. Nobody has ever been able to replicate the formula. If you can get some through unofficial channels, I would be more than happy to administer it, but we can't reproduce the drug ourselves."_

"_I thought you people were supposed to be smart."_

"_Whoever designed this drug was smarter." The doctor shook his head. "I've been working for the last two years to help people in just this situation, but the design of the drug is complicated, unique. It kills people, Mr. Cain. More than cocaine, more than heroin, Erebus kills people. There is no cure."_

"There has to be a cure," Cain whispered to the sleeping figure on the bed. "You wouldn't have made it this way, there has to be something you did... I just need you to wake up and tell me what it is."

The heart monitor slowly beeped in reply.

A soft gasp from the doorway caught Cain's attention. He turned to look and saw a tiny little girl with raven black hair and the widest blue eyes he'd ever seen. She sucked in a breath at the sight of him and flattened herself against the door.

"Hey. It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

The little girl gave him a disbelieving look. Cain couldn't blame her. At least he didn't look as disheveled as he had when he brought Glitch in. Having nothing better to do while he waited for Ambrose, he had gone to the gift shop and bought an overnight toilette kit. He'd shaved and cut his hair. He didn't look nearly as bad as he had, but she was so very vulnerable looking herself, pale in a hospital gown with only a too large brown coat for protection. It dragged on the floor, and obviously belonged to somebody else. In fact… Cain looked closer. In spite of the wear and tear, it looked familiar.

"_What are you doing, Ambrose?"_

"_I thought I would dress up as Wyatt Earp for Halloween. What do you think?"_

"_Hey! Are you saying my coat is old fashioned?"_

"_No… but it does look like it belongs on the set of El Dorado. Hey, maybe I could pass off as John Wayne in this."_

"_Only in your dreams, short stuff." Cain ruffled Ambrose's hair. "The coat looks good on you, though. Why Wyatt Earp?"_

"_Well… I don't know, I think you're going to laugh at me."_

"_Maybe a little bit. But not much."_

"_He's got a tin star just like you do. Trounces bad guys just like you do. Seemed like a cool guy to dress up as. Well, aside from you, but I asked at the costume shop and it would have cost me a fortune for all the ugly make up I would have needed… Hey!"_

_Ambrose struggled helplessly as Cain grabbed him and began tickling him mercilessly._

Cain shook his head, tears springing to his eyes from the fond memory. "You must be DG. Ambrose mentioned you."

The little girl still looked dubious.

"My name's Wyatt. I don't know if Ambrose told you about me…"

Cain had to guess at her next expression. But it seemed confused. A 'Who's Ambrose?' sort of look if ever he saw one.

"He's my son. He gave you that coat."

The girl pointed at the bed then looked back up at Cain.

"Yeah. That's Ambrose. He's a nice kid, isn't he?"

The little girl still looked puzzled.

"Hmm. I guess he calls himself Glitch, now."

The girl nodded and stepped forward. She curtsied and Cain laughed.

"I suppose that means that if I know Glitch, I must be alright?"

She nodded.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

DG shook her head. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, then closed it again and shrugged unhappily. She walked to the side of the bed and took Glitch's hand. She looked back at Cain.

"I wish I could tell you he was going to be alright. I bet he's happy that you're here to help look out for him, though."

The little girl looked at Cain with pleading eyes.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know it's hard to understand. Hell, I can't even wrap my head around it myself… but they just can't fix what's wrong with him." The words stung, felt dry in his mouth. He hadn't even admitted the truth of them to himself, now trying to repeat them to a little girl who had nobody else in the world. It would have been better if he hadn't known, would have been better if he hadn't gotten involved. Hope… what a silly thing to have after all this time… and see where it got him.

DG shook her head emphatically and reached into one of the large pockets of her coat. She pulled out a syringe and held it out to Cain. He looked at it, uncertain. DG pointed at the syringe, then pointed at Glitch lying on the bed.

"This is the stuff he takes?"

She nodded quickly.

"You're certain?"

Again, she nodded. Cain crossed the room to her in two big strides, causing her to cringe in alarm. "It's okay. I won't hurt you, I just need to see it." She held it out to him and he took it, careful not to stab himself with the needle. "You haven't stuck yourself with this at all, have you? It's important. It could make you sick if you have."

The little girl shook her head.

"Okay, wait here, I'm going to find a doctor so they can give this to him, okay?"

Cain didn't wait for an answer, he just ducked out the door and hurried off to find the doctor.

* * *

Glitch couldn't recall how long he lay floating in the pool of cold blackness. It seemed like forever and at the same time not very long at all. It seemed peaceful and relaxing, so he had no objection to continuing in this state at all. It wasn't an uncomfortable cold blackness, after all. More like the refreshing retreat into darkness after being out in the sun too long, like jumping into a cold pool when it's ninety degrees and the sweat is rolling down your back, or running cold water over your hand after you've burnt it on the stove.

There was a certain amount of relief to be had here and Glitch was enjoying it. At least until he could hear the voices.

Echoes of sound, familiar and yet so terribly hard to place, surrounded him in his darkness. There was something about one of those voices… He tried to ignore it, but it had already seeped into his awareness. Was that the voice of someone he knew? Someone he should know?

Glitch concentrated harder on the voice, until the words were clearer and less muddled.

"…hear me… need… wake up…"

That voice was so familiar! Why did he know that voice? The other voice said something, frantic urgency coloring it harsh in this peaceful darkness. But he didn't care about that other voice. He listened harder to the one he knew.

"…kid… need to breath… fight this… Ambrose!"

_But my name is Glitch…_

"Ambrose! You have to fight this for me, kid, now come on! Breathe dammit! Don't you quit on me, boy, don't you DARE quit on me yet, do you hear?"

The familiar voice was frantic with worry too.

_Don't worry… please don't worry, Dad…_

Lightning jolted through his brain and memories hit him like a flood of fire. Broken cars and the smell of engine oil and grease, riding his bike to the station with a box of fresh doughnuts balanced on the handlebars and that voice saying, "Son, until you can beat me in a footrace, I don't want to hear a thing about fat cops and doughnuts. I LIKE doughnuts." Memories of milk and cookies and old scary movies late on Wednesday nights and "Don't tell your mother I'm letting you stay up this late on a school night." And a quick reply of "I'm in high school. I'm ALLOWED to stay up this late on school nights." Meatloaf and board game night, chemistry sets… "Ambrose, give the chemistry a break and wash up for dinner. Your mother's gonna kill me if you aren't down here in two minutes."

The memories were too much and all too quickly they were already fading. So was the voice.

_No! Don't go! _

Glitch reached out through the darkness, but now it wasn't the cool, refreshing, relief giving darkness that had embraced him so gently before, it was an inky nightmarish monster that had him wrapped tight in a crushing hold that he couldn't escape from.

_Help…! Don't leave me! I don't want to stay here! Don't go!_

He struggled wildly against the iron bands that constricted his chest, fought as hard as he could to free himself.

"That's right, Ambrose, keep fighting! Keep fighting for me boy, please, don't give up! You're doing damn good, just take a breath for me, kiddo. Can you do that?"

Glitch tried, he struggled to fight off the darkness. With one last phenomenal effort of will, the darkness began to give way and he was able to drag air into his lungs.

"Good, Ambrose, that's good. Now do it again."

It was easier this time and the darkness sank back just a little further. His throat burned, but the air was good and he drank it in. He could hear the voices much clearer, could hear the relief, the gravelly emotion in the voice that had struck such a chord in him. He could hear the mild surprise in the other voice. "His vitals are stabilizing. He seems to be coming around."

"Ambrose? Ambrose can you hear me?"

Glitch sucked in another breath, his lungs rasping from the effort. He choked and coughed, welcoming the pain. He couldn't quite believe how close he'd come to dying. The pain let him know that he was really still alive. He took another breath and opened his eyes again.

Images were still blurry, still hard to distinguish, but he could make out a face, a concerned face with blue eyes…

"Do I…" He broke off coughing. He took a breath and tried again. "Do I know you?"

All the sadness of the world in those blue eyes… "Yeah, kid. You know me."

Cain's heart wrenched in his chest at the blank confusion he saw in Glitch's face, then the tentative, embarrassed smile when he whispered, "I'm sorry."

Cain cleared his throat. "You haven't done anything wrong." He took the young man's hand and squeezed it gently.

The doctor was writing notes on the clipboard. "Mr. Cain, I can't stress enough that this is only a temporary improvement. Nothing has changed. I'll leave you alone to say goodbye."

Glitch watched the doctor go, swallowing hard against the dryness in his throat. "Could…" He broke into another coughing fit. "Could I get some water?"

Cain nodded and quickly went to fill a paper cup from the sink as Glitch carefully tried to sit himself up. Cain helped Glitch to take a sip or two, holding the cup steady when the trembling in the young man's hands proved too much for him. "How you feeling?"

"Sore. Everything hurts... like I got hit by a… a… bus or something."

"I'm not surprised. Your body's been through the ringer tonight."

"Has it?"

"Yeah."

Glitch's brown eyes darkened as he struggled to remember even a glimmer of what had gone before. "Was I in a fight or something?"

"I wouldn't call it a fight so much as getting trounced by a bunch of bullies." And then getting raped, but he wasn't sure he had the heart to tell him that. If he didn't remember, it would be best to just let him forget.

"Guess I lost?"

"There were three of them, Ambrose. They had you outgunned pretty good."

"That's not true… I should have… I know better… should know better. I was taught better… I think."

"You think?"

"I guess. I thought I remembered something, but it's gone now. I almost had that one, too. Dammit!"

"It's okay, kid, just watch the swearing."

Brown eyes sharpened as Glitch's gaze focused on Cain. His voice was soft. "My dad taught me better… You called me Ambrose…"

"That's your name."

There was still confusion there, but Cain could see the gears slowly working around in that tenacious brain of his. "He called you Mr. Cain, but that's not right… it wasn't mister… It was lieutenant… or colonel. Major Cain? No… that's not right either… Something. Some kind of an officer… but not… Officer. That's it, Officer Cain… Hey! I remember now! You're… you're Officer… Dad… Oh!" And there it was. Dawning, realization, that perfect smile that lit up his face at the simple triumph. And then the smile fell almost as quickly as it came, the color draining from his face almost just as fast, the elation replaced by horror. "Oh…"

"So you DO recognize me." Cain squeezed Glitch's hand again and Glitch's gaze dropped, as if he was surprised by the contact. He looked back up again, uncertainty and fear evident in his expressive brown eyes. "Talk to me, Ambrose. You recognized me back in that ally, why did you lie about it?"

Tears sprung up in his eyes and he smiled to cover it up, but he couldn't hold it for very long. His voice was quiet, shaky, "I didn't want you to see me like this… I didn't…" His voice cracked and broke. "I didn't want to hurt you this way… not after what I did… I'm so sorry…" He hid his face behind trembling hands, his thin body shaking as he sobbed.

Cain stayed still, unsure if he should comfort the young man or if his efforts would be unwelcome just now. He didn't have long to think about it. The door to the bathroom opened wide and the little girl in the hospital gown, who had been hiding evidently since Cain had left to get the doctor, came trotting out. Not intimidated by the mess of wires and IV lines, she clambered onto the bed and forced her way under Glitch's arms to give him a hug.

Cain recognized the look on his face, the startled confusion, the puzzled blankness. Cain was starting to think of it as the "Hello? Do I know you?" look. It only lasted a few moments before recognition set in and Glitch smiled, sniffling back the tears that hadn't quite fallen yet.

Glitch hugged her back. "DG! Silly little girl, you should be in bed resting so you can get better!"

DG shook her head.

"What? You shouldn't be resting?"

She shook her head again and pointed at him, tapping him lightly on the chest with her finger while wearing a severe expression.

"Me? You think I should rest so I can get better?"

DG nodded firmly. Glitch nodded and hugged her tighter.

"I'm trying, kiddo."

Cain's lips twitched up in a sad smile at the unexpected use of his nickname for Ambrose. He cleared his throat. "So how is it that you can remember her name, but you can't remember me?"

A faint trace of blush crept up Glitch's pale face. "I don't know… I just… I remember things better when DG's around. Maybe it's because I have to? When I forget about things like eating and stuff, it doesn't bother me so much, but I have to remember to cook dinner now that she's staying with me. You can't take care of someone if you can't take care of yourself, so I try harder to remember… I'm not the best parent, I guess, but I've been trying really hard. I didn't mean for her to get sick."

"People get sick, Ambrose. Especially kids. It's not your fault. DG doesn't think it's your fault, do you kiddo?"

DG shook her head vigorously.

"There, see? Not your fault."

Glitch hugged DG tightly. "Thanks, Deege. I'm still sorry, though."

DG snuggled closer.

"I wish you were still in bed, though. I was really worried about you and I want to make sure that you get all better."

DG looked up at him. "They were going to take me away…" Her voice was quiet, cracked and rusty sounding from disuse.

Glitch was confused. "Take you away…? Hey! You talked! I didn't know you could talk."

"My mom told me not to. She said that I had to go with my new mom and dad and listen to everything they said and be a good girl and that I wasn't to talk to anyone because if I did, the bad people might find me and hurt me again…"

Glitch hugged her tighter. He wasn't about to let any bad people hurt this sweet little girl. Cain cocked his head listening in interest, blue eyes intense as he watched her.

DG sniffled a little bit and rubbed her eyes with a sleeve of her too large hospital gown. "But I lost them in the storm and I was so scared! And then you saved me and I wanted to talk, but I couldn't! And now the people upstairs want to take me away again and I don't want to go, Glitch! I don't want to go!" She hid her face in his shoulder and Glitch looked up at Cain for help.

"Deege… I, uh… I don't want you to go either… but I can't… I can't take care of you, kiddo, you know that… They'll find some really nice people that will take so much better care of you than I could."

"But I don't want better people! I want you!"

"Deege-"

"I'll take care of you, DG. You don't have to worry about going anywhere. I'll keep you safe. And you can help me take care of Glitch, right?"

DG nodded emphatically. "Then we can make him all better, right?"

"Right." DG smiled. Glitch looked up at Cain and mouthed the words, 'Thank you'. "But right now, I think we need to let Glitch get some rest. We'll go back up to your room and find your clothes and break you out of this joint, what do you think?"

DG clambered down off the bed with a nod. She was ready to go. Cain turned to leave but glanced back. "You okay, Ambrose?" The kid's hands were shaking again.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine... I'm fine... I'm fine..."

"Glitch." Cain reached out and gently touched Glitch on the shoulder. Red rimmed eyes turned to focus on him.

"Sorry. Guess I was glitching again, huh?"

"Yeah."

Glitch's lips twisted up in an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry." He looked away for a moment, then glanced back at Cain. His eyes seemed different and Cain knew what was coming. "Do I know you?"

Cain felt his heart twist painfully. "Yeah, kid. You know me. Get some sleep, okay? I'll be back before you wake up."

"Okay…" Glitch's eyes fluttered closed and his breathing evened out in sleep.

Cain stood and grabbed his coat from the chair. DG's eyes followed him curiously. Seeing her look, he nodded towards Glitch. "Change of plan. Keep an eye on him for me, alright? You keep him safe until I get back. I want you to promise me."

DG nodded. "I promise. Where are you going?"

Cain put his hat on. "I'm going to find the man who did this to him. Then I'm going to fix it."

* * *

_TBC…_

_A/N: Wow, that was an epic length of time between posts. I apologize. I blame it on my other story. I get more reviews for that one and they keep distracting me. I'm easily distracted by good reviews. I'll try not to let it go four months again without another chapter, though. We'll see how well I succeed. =) _


	7. Chapter 7

Broken Fairytales part 7  
by Phantaz-Magoria

A/N: Alright, so it seems that an explanation might be in order. The trouble with having four stories in progress at the same time is that IF by any chance your hard drive happens to fail and IF you have no backup for the forty or some odd pages of material that are in the polishing stage and are on the verge of being posted, the confluence of these circumstances can be a little heart-wrenching. I think if it was just one story that I'd lost a finished chapter for, I might have been able to bounce back quicker, but the fact that I lost FOUR of them… let's just say that every time I tried to rewrite any of it, I tended to stare at the screen in abject despair. Fortunately, it seems like my period of mourning may have finally run its course and I was able to rewrite this one at least. Hopefully, I can get some momentum going and get some more chapters posted soonish. If ANYBODY is still interested in reading this, you have my undying gratitude for continuing to send me friendly nudges every once in a while and my promise that I have not given up on it. I know a year is a long time to not update, but I hope this chapter makes up for it, just a teensy tiny bit. I love you all, I really do and I am so repentant about the hiatus it's not even funny.

* * *

_Present day_…

Glitch blinked his eyes in confusion. He was embarrassed and he couldn't remember why. He tried to hide it with a smile. "I'm sorry, I must have glitched again. Have we met?"

The man that sat in the chair beside his bed didn't seem to be angry with him. He had warm dark eyes and somewhat shaggy blonde hair accenting a bronze complexion. His neat goatee framed an easy if somewhat bemused smile.

"It's quite alright, Glitch. You don't need to be ashamed. You don't need to be afraid. Just take a deep breath and relax."

Glitch nodded his head quickly, nervous in spite of himself, in spite of the steady calmness that seemed to be radiating from the man sitting next to him. "Oh… okay."

His voice would have been soothing if Glitch hadn't been so on edge, "Take your time. Do you remember my name?"

Glitch bit his lip and squinted, hoping that if he tried really, really hard something would come to him. Things were distracting him. The beeping of the heart monitor, the way the needles in his arm itched and demanded to be scratched, the mild pain in his head, the notion that he was forgetting something again… Glitch laughed to himself, not sure if it sounded more sad or hysterical. What was the sad irony of not being able to focus properly on remembering something because he was certain he was forgetting something else?

It didn't help that he was starving. He could feel his stomach twisting uncomfortably with every second that passed. What he wouldn't give for a tasty, yummy, crunchy taco right now. Or a steak. Glitch's mouth watered. A nice, juicy, yummy, raw…

"Raw! Your name is Raw!"

The man grinned. "That's right, Glitch! That's good, that's very good. My name is Doctor Raoul. Do you remember why I'm here?"

Glitch rubbed his forehead, wishing his headache would go away. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so… You wanted to talk to me about my drug problem, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

It wasn't until the needles and tubes jerked in his forearm that he realized he had been trying to tuck his arms around his chest in a self-conscious hug. "Look, I know drugs are bad and I was really stupid to get involved in them, I KNOW that…"

"Glitch, I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to help you. I'm here to help you remember."

Glitch shook his head, not sure whether to smile in supplication or frown in embarrassment and ended up doing a sad mixture of both. "Remember? Remember what? I seem to have forgotten… forgotten whatever it was I was supposed to remember."

Doctor Raoul didn't seem upset. Glitch was grateful for that, but he still didn't quite understand what was expected of him. Fortunately, the doctor seemed to pick up on his distress. He leaned towards him and rested his hand just barely against Glitch's arm, a gesture that surprisingly conveyed more comfort and warmth than Glitch would have thought. "Glitch, you mentioned some things today at various times and Doctor McKenny believes that you know how Erebus is made. I'm going to help you remember."

Glitch chewed his lower lip for a moment while he thought about that. He wished that his voice didn't sound QUITE so timid. "Is it going to hurt?"

Doctor Raoul smiled and the last traces of fear and unease seemed to melt away from Glitch like a chunk of ice sitting too close to a flame. "No, it isn't going to hurt. I just need you to relax."

He stood and walked to the doorway and turned off the lights in the room. Glitch's breath hitched before he realized that even with the lights off, the room wasn't totally dark. Raoul returned to his chair beside the bed and held out his fist. He was holding a long chain and a penlight delicately with his fingertips, letting the chain hang down so the green jewel attached to the end twisted lazily around. Glitch laughed softly. "Isn't that supposed to be a pocket watch or something?"

"Ah, but can a pocket watch do this?" Doctor Raoul clicked a switch on the penlight and the green jewel sparkled dazzlingly as it became the single point of illumination in the darkness.

Glitch was instantly entranced. "Ooooohhh… sparkly…" The jewel began to drift slowly back and forth and back again. Glitch couldn't resist the instant compulsion to watch it sparkle in the darkness.

"Just relax and concentrate on the light. Don't struggle, don't force the memories. Just let them come as they will. Just relax and concentrate on the light and the sound of my voice."

"Yeah…"

"Imagine that you're nothing but a stick of butter on a counter on a hot day and as you watch the light, all the tension in your body is melting away, just melting away on a warm relaxing day when you have nothing to do and nowhere to go, you're free to just relax and melt away into perfect peace and relaxation. Keep watching the light."

Glitch couldn't respond. It was too much trouble to make words in his head and to get them all the way down to his mouth.

"When you feel as relaxed as you can be, I want you to imagine that you're sitting in a room on a very comfortable couch. In front of you is a television. This is a very important television because it can show you any memory that you want to look at. It's your own personal home theater system. Can you see the television Glitch?"

"…Yes…"

"That's good. Remember, there's no rush and nothing to be afraid of. As soon as you're ready, I want you to turn on the television and tell me what you see…"

* * *

_Two years ago.._

Ambrose had to restrain himself to keep from sprinting down the front steps of the high school to the parking lot. He'd just finished his last class before the spring break and he was more than ready to get the hell out of Dodge. Tonight, his family… he could never get over how amazing it felt to think of them that way… his family was going out for pizza and ice cream at the arcade center to celebrate the almost end of the school year. Ambrose secretly suspected that Wyatt… Dad… was just making an excuse to go out and have fun. He hefted his bag to a more comfortable position on his shoulder as he took the stairs down as rapidly as he could.

He smiled wide as he hit the parking lot. Today was also the Corvette's inaugural solo trip. Wyatt… DAD… had only just yesterday given his car a clean bill of health. They'd driven it more than a few times this week, but DAD had wanted to make absolutely certain that it wasn't going to give him any problems when he drove it by himself for the first time.

Ambrose couldn't suppress his grin as he indulgently trailed his fingertips over the hood of his car as he walked around to the driver's side door. He tossed his book bag into the passenger seat and sat for a moment with his hands resting on the steering wheel, grinning with joy as he could practically feel the electricity of mutual affection tingling in his palms.

"Hello, girl. Did you miss me?"

Ambrose turned the key in the ignition and the Corvette rumbled to the life.

"Yeah, I missed you, too, sweetheart. Let's go pick up Jeb, what do you say?"

He pressed the gas petal lightly and the engine roared in response.

"Yup, sounds good to me, too."

Ambrose giggled then. "I can't believe I'm talking to a car."

The engine sputtered for a moment.

"No, no, no, honey, that's nothing against you. I didn't mean anything against you sweetheart."

The engine smoothed out and purred soothingly in idle.

Ambrose let out the breath that he'd been holding, sighing in relief. "Don't scare me like that."

He put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

_Present day…_

Glitch gasped and jerked out of whatever dream he'd been having. There was a man sitting in the chair next to him. "Oh, my! Hello, do I know you?"

"It's alright, Glitch. Don't be alarmed. My name is Doctor Raoul. Take a deep breath, everything is alright."

Glitch nodded. "O-okay. If you s-say so."

The man looked closely at him, gold eyes intensely scrutinizing. "Are you alright, Glitch?"

"Y-yeah, I feel f-fine." It wasn't true. He didn't feel fine at all. "May I ask what happened?"

The doctor shifted in his chair. "You were in a hypnotic trance and your brain must have misfired and pulled you out of it." The doctor must have seen the confused look on Glitch's face, because he clarified, "I was using a form of hypnotherapy to help you remember events from your past."

"Why? I won't be able to remember them."

"I'm hoping I can help you remember how to manufacture Erebus."

Glitch laughed, "Oh is THAT all?" His face darkened and he glared at the man looking at him from the chair. "Why would you want to make Erebus?"

"So we can help you, Glitch."

"No." Glitch shook his head emphatically. "No, Erebus doesn't HELP anyone." He would have stormed out just then but it was only just then that he noticed he was half reclining in a hospital bed with an unspeakable amount of wires and tubes connecting him to a few very immovable machines. His finger followed the oxygen tube up to where it was attached to his nose. "What…" His head was pounding and he closed his eyes to fight off the sudden nausea. "Why am I here?"

"You're here because you need help, Glitch. Please let me help you."

"H-help…?" He could feel tears spilling down his cheeks when he opened his eyes.

The doctor gently took his hand and squeezed it in a comforting grip. "Yes. I only want to help you. Are you ready to try again?"

* * *

_Two years ago…_

Jeb was barely able to wait for Ambrose to put the Corvette in park before he undid his seat belt and raced out of the car and up the walk to the front door. He was bouncing impatiently from foot to foot as Ambrose grabbed both of their book bags out of the hatchback. By the time Ambrose had made it to the door and began fumbling his key out, Jeb was exasperated.

"Come ON Ambro! I've got to PEE!"

"Hold your horses, partner, almost there."

Ambrose fit the key into the lock and barely had time to turn the latch when Jeb shoved the door open and disappeared down the hallway. Ambrose chuckled and hoisted his heavy backpack higher up on his shoulder, thinking jealously of the barely noticeable weight of Jeb's bag in his other hand.

He set both bags by the table in the dining room before slipping into the kitchen. He pulled bread out and set it on the counter while calling out to Jeb, "What flavor jam do you want?"

A muffled, "Strawberry!" came down the hallway just before the sound of the toilet flushing and the water in the sink running.

Ambrose smiled quietly to himself for a moment as he pulled the strawberry jam out of the fridge. He began carefully spreading the jam onto the bread. "What's seven plus seven?"

It was a very petulant Jeb that appeared in the entrance to the kitchen. "Ambro, that's not fair."

"What's not fair?"

"You know it's spring break. I don't have to do school for another whole week!"

Ambrose carefully began spreading the peanut butter across the bread. "All the more reason to keep practicing. Besides, the school break doesn't OFFICIALLY start until you finish your homework."

Jeb jumped up on the stool across the counter from Ambrose and rested his chin in his hands as he kicked his feet back and forth. "Mrs. Murphy didn't give us any homework."

Ambrose smirked. "Oh, yeah? Hmm… what about that paper you were writing about dinosaurs that's due next month?"

"It's not due until NEXT month."

"Yeah, but have you even started on it yet? You haven't, have you?"

"No…" The feet swinging stopped.

"And you still have your math work to do, right?"

"I'm already ahead of everybody in class. If you keep making me do extra stuff, I'm gonna be even more bored."

"If you're so far ahead, what's seven plus seven?" He put the finished peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a plate and slid it over to his adopted brother.

Jeb made a big production of sighing to let Ambrose know he was not amused. "Fourteen. You didn't make my sandwich right."

Ambrose sniffed and raised his chin enough to stare down his nose in his most aristocratic manner of mocking disdain. "I'll have you know I made that sandwich perfectly." When Jeb raised an eyebrow just like Wyatt often did, Ambrose huffed a sigh of defeat and dropped his chin again. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

"You forgot to cut it into triangles. It's not a perfect sandwich unless you cut the triangles in."

Glitch jerked and shuddered, crying out in agony as the memories flooded him. His brain felt like it was slowly being covered in molten iron. The pain was beyond immense, beyond bearable, and it wouldn't stop. A scream tore from his throat as the memories continued to pour into his brain in an overwhelming flood of torment.

Ambrose dropped his sandwich on the plate mid-bite. He frowned in confusion and stared towards the entrance hall. He could have sworn he heard something crash.

"Stay here, Jeb."

He walked quickly towards the doorway and poked his head into the hallway. It had sounded like it had come from the front door…

The front door that was currently swinging slowly on its hinges.

The front door that was OPEN.

Ambrose's breath froze in his chest. He had shut it, he was certain. He had locked it, too. Perhaps he hadn't. Perhaps he'd made a mistake. He stood for some moments staring at the door before he was finally able to summon the courage to stalk forward and shut it again. He slid the lock home, heart pounding in his chest. It was hard to breathe and he wasn't certain why. Surely something as silly as forgetting to close the door shouldn't fill him with such absolute terror.

His fingers were trembling as he stepped away from the door. Sweat was trickling down his shoulder blades. This was silly. Stupid even. It was just a door, he'd just forgotten to shut it, that was all… Ambrose bit his lip hard. This was so stupid, but just being paranoid didn't mean that there WASN'T a monster lurking about waiting to take a chomp at him. Ambrose made up his mind.

"Jeb! Jeb, hurry up and grab your coat, we're going next door to Mrs. Kylee's." There was no answer from the kitchen and Ambrose hurried to the doorway. "Jeb?"

Hands grabbed him from behind and hauled him backwards. His arms were pinned to his sides and he kicked out, struggling, screaming, crying out and fighting with everything he had in him. He screamed until he ran out of oxygen and just as he began to suck in another lungful of air, a cloth was pressed roughly against his face. His eyes flew wide in alarm as the pungent chemical smell burned his nostrils and made his lungs ache and his head pound.

Ambrose tried to fight. He tried, he tried, he tried… he tried… he…

* * *

Glitch gasped for air and struggled madly with the hands that held him down…

* * *

…and when he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the safe bright blue house on Papay Way that his family lived in. He was in absolute darkness with his face pressed into the damp concrete. A dirty rag filled his mouth and he gagged at the taste and the dry texture that made it difficult to swallow. The air was dank and cold, causing his skin to contract in goose flesh all over his mostly naked body. His arms were tied painfully behind him. Panic threatened to overwhelm him and he struggled fiercely against the ropes that had him hogtied. Blood roared in his ears and he couldn't help the whimper of fright or the scream of frustration that tore from his throat, both effectively muffled by the gag.

Ambrose wanted to panic. He wanted to scream and struggle and cry and give in to terrified despair, but he knew that he shouldn't. He wanted to, but he shouldn't.

Ambrose took a deep breath and let it out slowly focusing on nothing but the sounds he could hear. His heartbeat drummed in his ears and he slowed his breathing down more trying to soften the rapid thrumming. He started calculating statistics in his head, repeating back the odds of survival in kidnap situations and telling himself that if he panicked, the odds would be even more against him and he needed to be calm, needed to breathe, needed to relax and breathe and be calm, still, quiet…

* * *

"That's right, Glitch. Just breathe. Steady now, in and out. Easy and calm, just breathe in and out."

Glitch gasped and choked, jerking involuntarily against the arms that held him as his lungs struggled to drag the air in and out. His chest and throat burned and his eyes watered. The bright light that filled his vision was blinding compared to the darkness.

A friendly voice, the same that had been coaching him. "Doctor, is he…?"

"Stabilizing, yes. But he doesn't have much time."

"Glitch? Can you hear me? I need you to keep talking… I need you to…"

* * *

"I need you to start talking, Ambrose." Zero paced slowly around the room, casually swinging a metal baseball bat with one hand. "Just tell me how you did that cute little enzyme extraction thing that you did for the science fair and I'll let you go. And I won't have to tell Azkadellia that you're being difficult and uncooperative. You think I'M bad when my tempers up…? Whew! You don't want to see Kadie in a snit. So do us both a favor and just spill it."

Ambrose tried to blink the tears from his eyes. From where he lay in the center of the room, still tightly bound, he could see Adora and Wyatt. They were both still and unmoving, both covered in blood and bruises. He imagined that he looked the same. Zero had been very generous with swinging that bat of his. He concentrated hard, trying to detect signs that his parents were even still breathing, ignoring as best he could the agonizing, throbbing ache that seemed to start at his head and end at the tip of his toes.

Zero sounded as if he was getting impatient, but Ambrose didn't understand what Zero had to be impatient about. Really, this had only been going on for a few hours, hadn't it? "Look, it isn't as if I'm asking you to destroy the world or give me the formula for the black death or anything as dramatic as that. All I want is a teensy, tiny little chemistry lesson. Is that really so much to ask?"

They'd been over this and over this. It almost wasn't worth the effort of splitting his lip open again to speak. His voice was dull and toneless with the expectation of being refused again, "Take my family to the hospital, show me proof they've been admitted and I will tell you anything you want to know."

"You know it isn't going to happen like that."

Ambrose grit his teeth and closed his eyes, feeling another tear escape from his lashes to trail down his cheek. He was surprised his eyes hadn't already dried up completely.

"Alright, you fairy-assed little queer, I'm starting to get a little tired of this shit! Either you start talking, or I start showing you my nasty side, so which is it going to be?"

He was dragging a pale and frightened Jeb roughly behind him. Jeb's face was so pale that Ambrose could see the freckles standing out on his cheeks and nose. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his voice shook, "A-Ambro?"

"Jeb! Jeb are you alright?" Ambrose struggled against the ropes that held him, wanting to reach out for his brother and comfort him. Zero shoved Jeb to the floor near the still forms of his parents then stepped aside, making sure that Ambrose had a clear and unobstructed view.

Jeb's frightened gaze never wavered. "Ambrose, I'm scared."

Ambrose tried to give his brother a shaky smile, tried to make his voice sound more confident than he felt, "It's alright Jeb, everything's gonna be alright."

Except it wasn't. Nothing was going to be alright. He looked at Zero, fear making his head pound and his heart beat funny. Ambrose had already figured out that neither he nor Wyatt or Adora were going to survive this ordeal regardless of what he said or did and the hopelessness of it all had made it very easy to hold fast to his ideals. But now he knew he wouldn't be able to do it. It had been bad enough when Zero had beat him and kicked him until his throat hurt from screaming. It had been worse watching the same thing happen to Wyatt and Adora. He had nearly lost it at that last swing, the one that had cracked against Adora's skull so hard that her head snapped to the side and Ambrose could almost have sworn that he heard the bone fracture from across the room. It took everything he had to not give in, not when he knew they were all going to be killed anyway, but he had held out hope that Jeb had somehow escaped, that he was somehow still safe at home and wasn't involved in this. A cold dread settled in the pit of his stomach. Ambrose knew he wouldn't be able to resist anymore. He couldn't watch them hurt Jeb. He looked at his tormentor, his eyes filled with entreaty. "Please…"

"Just do what we want and we won't have to kill them. It's that simple."

"Zero, please don't do this."

"Look at them. I don't think the wife can take another hit like that, do you? She might even be dead already. Then we start on the kid next. Now do what you're told. Unless you want to see more?" With a smirk, Zero lifted the bat with both hands high overhead. Ambrose couldn't tell if he was aiming for Adora again or Jeb this time.

Panic made him scream, "No, please stop, please God stop!"

Zero paused, the beginnings of a cruel smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "All it takes is one little word…"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I'll do what you want, just please don't hurt them anymore, please? Please?"

He lowered the bat, grinning in triumph. "Now you're starting to see sense. Get it done. You've got one hour before the baseball bat starts swinging again."

"One hour?" Ambrose struggled against the ropes that held him. "I can't… it can't be done in an hour…"

"Then I suggest you work fast…"

"What you're talking about takes DAYS not hours! It can't be done that fast! Look, Zero, just give me a pen and paper. I'll write down everything you need to know, just don't hurt him, alright?"

Zero smiled, teeth gleaming like a predator. "You have an hour. And just to make it easier on you, I think I'll go ahead and remove some distractions."

With brutal swiftness, Zero raised the bat over Adora Cain and brought it down in a single, vicious, powerful swing.

"NOOOOOO! No, God, no!"

* * *

"Glitch!"

"No, please, please, please, no! No! Please! Stop…" Tears streamed from Glitch's eyes and he shook and shuddered and sobbed uncontrollably.

"It's alright, Glitch, everything's alright now, you're safe!" Glitch only sobbed harder. Doctor Raoul held the inconsolable young man in his arms, lips set in a thin line from the ordeal of watching such grief and being unable to soothe the almost unbearable anguish. "It's okay. We're stopping right now, I promise. I'm sorry I pushed you so hard, but we're stopping now, alright?"

"No, it's not alright! Nothing's alright!"

Doctor Raoul grimaced and held the boy tighter, rubbing circles against his back and being careful not to jerk any of the tubes or wires, trying to be as comforting as he could. The shaking didn't stop, but the sobs died down to quiet hiccups and sniffles. Glitch pulled back and wiped his red, glassy eyes with the heel of his hand. Raoul frowned. "Glitch?"

The boy shook his head. His voice was quiet, but firm. "Not Glitch. My name is Ambrose Cain. Give me a pen and paper. I'll write down everything you need to know…"

* * *

_TBC... _(really, no joke. It WILL be continued, I promise =) You have my solemn vow)


End file.
